Biennial report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carolina to Governor ..., for the scholastic years ...

Educational Publication No. 155 Division of Publications No. 48
BIENNIAL REPORT
OP THE
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC
INSTRUCTION
OP
NORTH CAROLINA
FOR THE SCHOLASTIC YEARS
1928-1929 and 1929-1930
PART I
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Published by the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Raleigh, N. C.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
State ot' North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction,
Raleigh, N. C.
To His Excellency, Governor O. Max Gardner,
and
To the Members of the General Assembly of 1931
:
Under the provisions of C. S. Ill, 5403 (1) and of chapter 248, Public
Lavv^s of 1929, and in compliance therewith, I am submitting my official
report as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. This report, Mobile
pertaining especially to the operation of the public schools for the biennium
ending June thirtieth, one thousand nine hundred thirty, presents certain
facts from former years as basic comparative material.
The facts submitted herein are neither elaborate nor exhaustive. Sufficient
material is included, however, to indicate the trends and to be symptomatic
of what is going on. Subsequent parts of this report, as shown in the in-troduction,
furnish detailed tabulation of statistical and financial records
which have been collected from all the administrative units of the State.
Certain recommendations are also submitted for your consideration. They
suggest lines of development which, in my opinion, if followed would greatly
improve the total school situation in the State. These pertain largely to
the development of administrative machinery which can be operated along
lines of business efficiency and sound economy.
I believe you will be much gratified and greatly encouraged by the ev-idences
of healthy expansion and sound development which have taken place
throughout the system.
Very respectfully submitted,
O- L
State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
9G;17
PART I
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR FUTURE OPERATION
PAGE
Historical Setting 5
Suggestions and Recommendations 9
1. Economy in Consolidation of Terms 9
2. Economy in Centralized Financial Terms 10
3. Economy in Administration 11
4. Equalization Fund 13
CHAPTER II. A RECORD OF GROWTH
General Statistics 17
Standard Elementary Schools 24
The High Schools 27
The Teaching Force 31
Elementary School Instruction 35
School Library Development 38
Schoolhouse Building 40
Educational Research 43
Negro Education , 44
CHAPTER III. REPORT ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Agricultural Education 52
Home Economics Education 54
Trade and Industrial Education 55
Civilian Rehabilitation 55
CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR FUTURE OPERATION
HISTORICAL SETTING
Perhaps this is not the place to attempt an exhaustive analysis of the
total school situation in North Carolina. A clear understanding, however,
of the meaning of present conditions is necessary and antecedent to any
serious consideration of modified lines of development. Our system of ed-ucation
is deeply rooted in the past. Any suggestions about its future
should, therefore, rest upon sound historical foundations. Its story is in-tricate,
but interesting. It represents, perhaps, the aspirations of our
people more closely than any other line of development.
First Beginnings. It is now almost a hundred years since North Carolina,
with deliberate and studied determination and on the basis of a popular vote,
first threw its whole weight unreservedly into the balance in favor of the
public school system. By 1860, according to the testimony of many witness-es,
our system had come to rank among the first in the whole country.
Due to the interruption of the war, however, and to the consequent destruc-tion
wrought by it, it was necessary for us in 1876 to begin anew.
Under the Constitution as set up and interpreted at that time, in the
thinking of everybody, the county commissioners were charged with the
sole financial responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the public
schools. This idea dominated and controlled all legislation for almost a
quarter of a century. There were, for instance, constitutional requirements
that the schools should be free of tuition charges, that the system should
be uniform, and that the school in each and every district should be operated
for at least four months in each and every year. In another place in the same
Constitution, the poll tax was fixed at $2.00, which was equal in amount
to the maximum property tax that could be levied on three hundred dollars
worth of taxable values. This provision fixed the limit of ad valorem taxa-tion
at 66% cents on the hundred dollars worth of property for all public
purposes.
The wealth of each separate county, supplemented by the income from
the permanent school fund, was the basis of support for the educational sys-tem
in that county. The counties, then as now, differed among themselves
in financial strength. Some of the counties could, within the tax limit fixed,
maintain a four months school, but the others could not. As a consequence,
we had a level tax rate in all parts of the State, but an unequal school term,
notwithstanding the constitutional requirement for uniformity. Any at-tempt
to operate an even school term on a flat tax rate must fail, because
these two limitations are directly antagonistic. When one goes up, the other
must go down.
The General Assembly of 1885 tried to remedy this inequality by authoriz-ing,
empowering and directing the commissioners in each and every county
to levy an additional special tax over and above the 66% cent limitation, in
an amount sufficient to operate all the schools in the county for four months.
6 Report of Superintendent op Public Instruction
The Barksdale Case. A taxpayer by the name of Barksdale in Sampson
County resisted the tax. The case came to the supreme court for adjudica-tion.
A divided court rendered a decision that the special tax to support
the four months school term was in violation of the taxing clause in the
Constitution and, therefore, could not be levied. That left us with a flat
tax rate, but an unequal school term. In 1899 the General Assembly made
another effort. It appropriated directly out of the State treasury to the
public schools the annual sum of $100,000 to be distributed on the per capita
basis. This was intended to increase the supporting ability of each county
and in that way to lengthen the term. It helped, of course, but it was not
sufiicient to bring about the desii'ed results. In 1901, at the very beginning
of the administration of Governor Aycock, the General Assembly introduced
into the law a new and vital principle of school support. It set up the first
Equalization Fund. It left standing, as a continuing appropriation, the
first hundred thousand dollars which was to be distributed on the per capita
basis to increase the general financial strength of each county. In addition
thereto, there was appropriated in 1901 out of the general treasury of the
State a second hundred thousand dollars annually which was to be so distrib-uted
as to bring the school term in every district, as nearly as might be, up
to the four months specified in the Constitution. The first equalizing fund
was set up to equalize the school term, and not the tax rate; because there
was an even or flat tax rate in all the counties alike. This appropriation
helped greatly, but it still was not sufficient to provide a uniform minimum
term.
A New Interpretation, In 1907, twenty-two years after the first unsuc-cessful
attempt, the General Assembly, in a further effort to bring about
an even school term, again authorized, empowered and directed the county
commissioners in each and every county, in almost the identical language
used in 1895, to levy a sufficient additional special school tax to bring the
term in each of the several districts of the State up to four months. This
time a taxpayer by the name of Collie in Franklin County resisted the levy.
Again the whole question of a uniform school term, de novo, was placed
before the supreme court. The situation was the same as in 1885. The
lines of argument were identical. In the meantime, however, the ideas of
the people had widened into a broader conception of the place and meaning of
public education in our civilization. Supporting sentiment had strengthened.
Liberalized attitudes had prevailed. In the light of the new conditions the
court reversed itself. The powerful dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice
Merriman, delivered in 1885, became the law of the land. Article IX of the
Constitution was sustained in toto, irrespective of all other considerations.
The act of the legislature was held to be obligatory on the commissioners.
The struggle which had lasted for thirty-one years was at an end. The
uniform school term was set up. The battle was won; victory was achieved.
Thereafter no man offered to renew the conflict.
New Questions. In the solution of this problem, however, as is often the
case, the lines of cleavage in a new and sterner conflict were set. It was
no longer a flat tax rate and an uneven school term. From that time on,
it has been a uniform term supported by scattered tax rates. It is self
evident that a uniform school term, on the same level of efficiency, can not
be operated solely on the basis of county support, since the counties vary
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 7
so greatly among themselves in their ability to pay taxes. Two conflicting
standards of uniformity can not be applied at the same time. When one is
made effective, the other goes askew. Since 1907, we have been struggling
with unequal tax rates among the several counties. In 1930, after twenty-three
years of effort, it is still the paramount school issue in North Carolina.
At first it seemed a comparatively simple problem. School costs were
low. The spread in values among the counties was not so great as at
present. The people were content with a meager school program. The
wealth of the State was increasing as rapidly as the costs were going up.
It looked as if the school question might have been settled.
Then two new factors entered which have thrown all calculations out of
line. First, through power development and industrial growth, some coun-ties
increased their taxable wealth by leaps and bounds, while other counties
stood still, advanced at a slower rate, or, even in some instances went back-ward.
This change in relative taxing power, of course, caused a greater
spread in the tax rates necessary to support the constitutional term, and
served as the basis of a demand for a greater equalizing fund.
Then, at the close of the World War, with rising costs in every field of
endeavor, and with an insistent demand on the part of the people for better
school facilities, school costs mounted rapidly. Tax rates spread more
rapidly than school costs increased. Suppose we compare two counties of
unequal wealth. In one, there is $1,000 of taxable wealth behind each
child; in the other $3,000. If a thirty cent tax is levied in each county, the
first will have $3.00 per child, and the second will have $9.00 per child for
educational purposes. If the State places $6.00 per child in the first county
we shall have complete equalization, and each will have the same amount to
spend on each child. Now, suppose the cost of education should double in
each county and require $18.00 per child before the State gives further aid.
The first county, in order to raise its $12.00 by taxation on its own resources,
would levy $1.20 on the hundred dollars of valuation. The second county
could secure its $12.00 by a 60 cent tax on the hundred. While the costs
have doubled, the rate in the first county has been multiplied by four and
in the second county by two. The spread in rates between the counties has
been more rapid than the increase in cost.
In a further substantiation of this principle, the total cost of education
since 1920 has been multiplied approximately by three, and the equalization
fund by six. The spread in value and the increased cost has made im-perative
greater contributions on the part of the State. What was at
first conceived to be purely a county problem, has come to be one of the
most staggering questions of State finance. For twenty-five years we tried
to reach a solution under the conception that we were dealing with a primary
county responsibility. For the last quarter of a century, more and more,
it has come to be considered fundamentally as a State obligation—with
joint county and State support.
Further Complications. May we, for just a moment, look backward over
the road which we have just traveled in order to take note of a few ad-ditional
and complicating factors? In the very first school law enacted
under the authority of the Constitution of 1876, permission was given to
certain cities, subject of course to a vote of the people, to levy a special
8 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
tax, not in excess, however, of ten cents on the hundred dollars worth of
taxable property, in order that they might improve the school facilities in
those cities. The entire financial responsibility for the operation of these
schools, aside from the money they were to receive for the four months
fund, was to rest squarely upon the shoulders of the cities themselves. No
such taxes could be levied except upon a vote of the people. In return for
the willingness of the city to support its own school program, the General
Assembly placed the control of such schools in the hands of a local board
of trustees to be selected in accordance with the provisions of the charter.
In this way, the type of organization known as special charter schools arose.
At first these permissions were given rather grudingly. The interests
of the taxpayers were protected by a limitation on the rate which could be
levied for this purpose. The limit was first fixed at ten cents on the hun-dred
dollars worth of property. This limit was later raised to twenty
cents, then to thirty cents, and finally to fifty cents where it now stands.
The people responded to this opportunity, and by 1900 every city and town
was operating a good system of graded schools. What took place in North
Carolina during this period is typical of the general lines of development in
all parts of the country. City populations everywhere have been and still
are the leaders in progressive educational thought and enterprize. From
them have come the demands for state systems of schools. They are con-tinually
pressing forward in the front line of progress. Their example has
been a continuing inspiration to the rest of the people.
About 1900, the people living in the rural territory became very much
interested in the education of their children. They were confronted with
the alternative of moving to town or of building up their own schools. They
began to seek permission to vote local taxes. They went through exactly
the same graduated scale of limitations as the cities: first, ten cents, then
twenty, then thirty, and finally fifty, where the limit now stands.
In 1903, a great educational campaign was launched in North Carolina to
encourage the people to vote these taxes. No other plan of school support
was at that time practical or possible. It was the sole way open for the
development of rural education. It rests upon the doctrine of self determina-tion
and self sufficiency. It appealed to local pride; it encouraged local
initiative. It went through on a crest of enthusiasm created by the
spontaneous rivalry between local communities. The school district as-sumed
complete responsibility for the financial support of such improved
school facilities as its means would justify. In fact, it has been the under-standing
through all the years, and is still the accepted belief by some,
that no levy for a term longer than the constitutional term could be made,
except upon the consent of a majority of the qualified voters in that ter-ritory.
By a process of voting through the years these taxes have been
imposed on about seven-eighths of the wealth of the State.
At the beginning the tax was on a small district. Then came the idea
of a larger district. Concurrent with the advent of good roads, we had the
movement for the consolidation of schools and the transportation of chil-dren.
This made necessary the erection of a larger and more permanent
type of building. Out of all this came the possibility of the rural high
school. This opportunity is now extended to practically all the white chil-dren
of the State.
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 9
At the beginning of the four months term there was no serious thought
on the part of any one that the constitutional term would raise the question
of State support. Each county was to carry its own load. Changed condi-tions
as we have seen, however, made State aid in large amounts imperative.
In precisely the same way, the local tax movement has laid another obliga-tion
in the lap of the State. We find here almost parallel lines of develop-ment.
In 1907, for instance, there was a State appropriation for the sup-port
of the rural high school which was half as large as the equalizing fund
at that time. In 1921, the amount of this fund was more than doubled. In
the same year also, there was begun a series of special building funds which
made possible the magnificent school buildings which you see by every road
side. In 1923, there was an authorization for the county, under certain
conditions, to use the fines and forfeitures in support of these big schools.
In 1925, the counties were authorized to take over the carrying charges on
such buildings as were necessary for the operation of the constitutional
term, thereby relieving the district of these obligations and making possible
their continuance.
These schools grew rapidly. Many children re-entered school. The high
school population increased; better teachers were employed; school costs
went up. The revenue for support was restricted to the amount which
could be raised within the limit of fifty cents fixed by the General Assembly.
The basic supporting property in many instances declined rapidly in value.
Caught between the two dilemmas of ever increasing school costs and de-creasing
revenue, many of them, by 1929, found themselves in a state of
bankruptcy and ready for the appointment of receivers. Upon the recom-mendation
and insistence of Governor Gardner, the State came to their
rescue in a magnificent way and provided for them a tax reduction fund of
$1,250,000. Thus, the schools, which the people had built for themselves
with such enthusiasm and at such sacrifice, were saved to the people and
placed upon a firm financial basis. These two parallel developments bring
us to the total present situation.
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The Total School Situatio?^ What then is the total school situation in
North Carolina today. First, we have two school terms; one of them em-bedded
in the Constitution, and supported jointly by the State and county
under one set of laws; the other resting upon a vote of the people in the
district and operated upon the authority of an entirely different set of lav/s
and supported jointly by the local taxes and the State Tax Reduction Fund.
These terms are two distinct entities, resting upon different laws and fi-nanced
from different sources of support. They sometimes touch each other
but are never united. The constitutional term is level. It is operated for
six months in every district, but the supporting ad valorem tax rates in
the several counties are still uneven. In the other field, both the term and
the rates present ragged edges. From the standpoint of united school
finance and a uniform school term, we are confronted with all the vexing
complexities of the past in aggravated and cumulative form.
1. Economy in Consolidation of Terms. The machinery set up for the op-eration
of the public schools in North Carolina is both cumbersome and
10 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
wasteful, and well nigh obsolete. It was made to fit conditions as they were
ten years ago when only a few schools, outside of the special charter dis-tricts,
were in session longer than six months. Conditions have changed and
new machinery must be devised in order to place them on a business like
basis.
Some of the administrative difficulties in dealing with a situation such as
this will be stated briefly. The difference in length of term makes it very
difficult to get children into groups where they can be taught efficiently and
economically. With the increased teaching load there are many vacant
rooms. Around these larger buildings are small one and two-teacher schools
which could be brought in. The district line prevents. Small high schodls
are operated in a close proximity. They can not be brought together on
account of the impassable district lines. Two trucks run along the same
highway, picking up children on different sides of the highway, because the
road is the line between districts. Trucks drive up in sight of cities and
haul children to distant schools. The different lengths of term and the
solidified district oft'ers an unwieldly and costly administrative machine.
If the terms could be consolidated up to a minimum of eight months, great
savings could be accomplished through the reorganization of the intructional
group. Some of these might be stated as follows:
a. It would place the county board of education in a position to eliminate
very rapidly the remaining small elementary schools.
b. It would place the county board of education in a position to eliminate
many small high schools.
c. Children could be shifted from one school to another merely by turn-ing
a truck around, and thus prevent over crowding and avoid the employ-ment
of additional teachers.
d. Teachers could more easily be moved from one school to another with
shifts in population or enrollment.
e. Tuition charges as between rural districts could be eliminated.
f. The narrow gap between the rural school and the city school of one
month could be briged with public funds, and thus provide a system of free
schools.
g. A great deal of the waste by re-teaching non promoted children could
be avoided.
h. It would not only provide for economy during the first year, but its
effect would extend through all the years on account of more rapid promo-tion.
i. Most of the petty annoyances about schools, which often result in
neighborhood rows, would be eliminated.
If the tax payers are to continue to put up $30,000,000 a year to operate
the schools and to pay the carrying charges on the buildings, every possible
effort should be made to operate them economically and to make them free
to all the children.
2. Economy in Centralized Financial Control. The consolidation of all
the different operating funds in a county would make possible many econ-omies,
and the total of such savings over the State would amount to many
thousand dollars.
At present, there are often in one county fifteen or twenty spending
agencies—all determining how public money shall be spent. There is no
one agency responsible in a county for financial control. If all the funds
for the operation of the schools in a county could be consolidated into one
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 11
fund—all the money from the State and all the money raised from local
resources spent by one responsible agency—real business administration
could be introduced into the operation of the schools. Such a task would ap-peal
to the best business interests of the county and the very finest and
most capable business men would be glad to serve on county boards of
education. Some of the business principles that could be introduced might
be stated as follows:
a. Provide for only one responsible spending agency.
b. Provide concentrated financial control and thereby effect many
economies.
c. Provide an agency to regulate supplementary salaries.
d. Provide an agency to regulate the employment of additional teachers.
Through these agencies and the economies which they could accomplish,
it is believed that the consolidated school term could be operated for less
money than is now spent for the operation of our present system with its
imeven lengths of term and impassable district lines. Furthei'more, such
a centralized financial control would make possible a degree of flexibility
which would enable the system to adjust expenditures to times of stringency.
3. Economy In Administration. Are the administrative costs too high
in North Carolina ? If one should hold to the opinion that costs are too
high, an examination of the evidence would lead him to the conclusion that
the excess, if any, is due to the number of administrative units rather than
to the amount of salary paid in individual cases.
How large should an administrative unit be? Of course, the answer to
this question is dependent upon geographical lines among the political sub-divisions
of the State, and upon the natural grouping of the population. It
would be manifestly impossible to lay the State off in units of the same size
and shape. Perhaps no one knows exactly how large these units should be.
Some hold to the opinion that a school system with fewer than five thou-sand
pupils is difficult to administer on an economical basis. Good roads
have changed all our customs. The whole situation is new. Governmental
agencies should be reorganized from time to time to fit into new conditions
as they arise.
In this State there are 195 separate and independent adminstrative school
units, 100 county systems and 95 charter systems within the counties, be-sides
a great number of special tax districts which have many independent
privileges. The counties vary in size from 17,150 pupils enrolled in John-ston
County to 1,446 in Dare County. Charlotte represents the largest
unit among the cities with an enrollment of 16,387. The smallest charter
school is Dobbersville with 88 pupils. The average size of all systems is
4,446.
The following table shows the grouping of these systems according to
size
:
Number of Units Size Limits
22 Above 10,000 pupils
17 8,000-10,000 pupils
19 6,000- 8,000 pupils
27 4,000- 6,000 pupils
37 2,000- 4,000 pupils
34 1,000- 2,000 pupils
39 Below 1,000 pupils
12 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The combined enrollment in the fifteen city systems with from 1,000 to
1,500 pupils is 18,039. They pay a total of $48,320 for the salaries of super-intendents,
or an average of $2.68 for each child enrolled. The average for
county units is less than 50 cents per pupil. If all of these fifteen were
combined, they would make a system about the size of Robeson County.
If the schools with fewer than 2,000 pupils now operating under special
charters should come into the several county systems, there would remain
only 129 systems of schools in the State as opposed to the 195 as at present.
Under this supposition the systems would arrange themselves as follows:
Number of Systems Size Limits
27 Above 10,000 pupils
16 8,000-10,000 pupils
21 6,000- 8,000 pupils
26 4,000- 6,000 pupils
32 2,000- 4,000 pupils
7 1,000- 2,000 pupils
The 129 systems would have a total enrollment of 866,939 or an average
size of 6,720 pupils.
There are many potent reasons, of course, which would suggest the ad-visability
of the larger places remaining under their charters as at present.
They have been the leaders in education. They promise a richer program
of activities than the surrounding territory seems to desire at this time.
Much of North Carolina's economic progress is due to the excellent educa-tional
systems which the cities have maintained for many years, largely at
their own expense. The charter lines have served a good purpose, because
they segrated the property of people who were willing to tax themselves for
school improvement. They taught us what good schools could do for a
people. For sixty years they have been at the head of the procession.
No one desires to limit in any way the educational opportunity which they
now offer, but the effort is to bring an equal opportunity to all the people
as rapidly as possible.
Since these charters were begun the whole school situation has changed.
At that time the thought was to build a school on every hill top, and within
walking distance of all the children. No thought was taken of instructional
grouping. A few children could be taught better than a large number.
With good roads has come the consolidation movement. The effect now
is to get children into large instructional groups which necessitates a great
deal of transportation. Transportation has come to be very expensive. As
many children as possible should still walk to school. The special charter
district in small places, on account of its impassable lines, has come now, in
some instances, for the first time in our history, on account of new condi-tions,
to be a hindrance to educational progress and to bring additional and
unnecessary expense to the county and to the State. Every hard and fast
district line, whether it surrounds a special charter or a special tax district,
lays an additional burden on the tax paying public. Either these district
lines should be eliminated or some way should be found to get across them.
Many county systems are also too small for efficient and economical ad-ministration.
It would take eight of the smallest to make a unit as large
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 13
as Charlotte. Without in any way affecting the county government or in-terfering
with the control of the budget by the commissioners or the ad-ministration
of the budget by the county board of education, one adminis-trative
unit might be set up jointly by two or more counties. Every time
such a union is formed, money can be saved for the tax payer.
The enlargement of administrative units, in my opinion, would add greatly
to the efficiency of the public school system, and make it possible to do the
administrative work with the expenditure of many fewer dollars. The re-duction
in the number of systems would facilitate the introduction of
business principles into the operation of the schools. The reconstruction
of the administrative machinery along many lines is necessary if the
schools are to be operated along the lines of sound economy.
4. Equalization Fund. This fund as a twofold purpose:
a. The equalization, as nearly as may be, of the county tax rates levied
for the operation of the six months school term.
b. The equalization, as neaiiy as may be, of the educational opportunity
among the children in the several counties of the State.
The administration of this fund at the present time is more nearly meet-ing
its twofold purpose than at any time in the past. The weaker counties
are rapidly strengthening their school systems, and tax rates are also ap-proaching
a level.
I should like to suggest two ways in which the administration of this
fund can bring us a little closer to even tax rates and also a little closer
to equalized educational opportunity,
1. State participation in all the necessary current operating expenses
of the six months school term. At present the State participates in only
a part of the necessary operating expenses of the six months school term.
Conditions change from year to year. The population in some counties in-creases
more rapidly than in others. Wealth also increases more rapidly in
some counties than in others. All of these changes which are taking place
constantly tend to throw the tax rates out of line. The total State budget,
however, increases from year to year on account of the growth in school
population, and improvement in the kind of schools operated. The four
elements causing most of this increase are as follows:
a. The employment of a higher grade of teachers each year. The
average training of teachers increases approximately, one-fourth of a col-lege
year for each school year.
b. The employment of additional teachers on account of increased at-tendance.
Sometimes it is necessary to take care of an increase of 25,000
or more children in one year.
c. The increase in the enrollment in high schools in which instruction is
approximately two and one-half times as expensive as in the elementary
schools.
d. The increment on the State salary schedule.
Contrary to the belief of many, the State Budget does not include any
supplementary salaries, nor does it include the salaries of any so-called
extra teachers. The State budget is made up of the salaries actually paid
when not in excess of the State schedule and the number of teachers al-lowed.
Extra teachei-s and supplementary salaries serve to raise the local
14 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
tax rates and do not affect the State budget. Por the school year 1929-30
there was a wide spread between the State budget approved on June 1,
1929, and the May budget approved by the county commissioners during the
summer of 1929. The totals of these two budgets and the difference be-tween
them are shown below:
May budget—100 counties, 1929-30 $20,316,683.77
State budget—100 counties, 1929-30 15,530,827.85
Difference $ 4,785,855.92
The county commissioners in order to have authority to levy the tax,
must find as a fact that the items in the May budget are necessary for the
operation of the six months school term. The entire difference between
these two budgets must be raised by an ad valorem tax on the property in
the several counties. This, of course, causes a considerable spread between
the participating tax rate and the actual tax rate levied in the county. The
following table shows this spread in tax rates for three years:
Average Participating
Year Actual Rate Rate Difference
1927-28 53.76 40 .1376
1928-29 56.78 40 .1678
1929-30 49.8 30 .198
Looking at this table it seems to me that the proper attack for the re-duction
of tax rates is to devise some way of biinging the 49.8 cents actual
tax rate necessary to be levied a little closer to the 30 cent participating
rate. As the State budget is now made up, it does not take into considera-tion
the increment on teachers' salaries nor the full number of additional
teachers made necessary by increased attendance. Also current expenses
other than teachers salaries and transportation represent, in highly or-ganized
counties, a much larger percentage than the ten per cent allowed
in the budget. Under the present practice the county carries these items
which represent an increase in the county tax rates. County tax rates are
also increased by the employment of additional teachers and by supple-mentary
salaries, although there is very little supplement now included in
the six months county budget in a participating county. The necessary op-erating
costs mentioned above represent approximately one-half of the dif-ference
between the State budgets and the county budgets. The rest of the
difference is made up of items of expenditure determined upon by the coun-ties
for the improvement of the schools in the several counties.
Perhaps this spread in tax rates is not a fair test of the relative school
expenditures as among the counties. So many different elements enter the
budget in the several counties from year to year that the tax rate does
not run even in the same county. Any increase in the equalization fund
could be used in either one of two ways:
a. To expand the State budget to include more nearly all of the necessary
current operating cost of the six months school term.
b. To reduce the participating tax level, or there might be a combina-tion
of both of these effects.
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 15
2. State participation in all the necessary current operating expenses of
the six months school term on the basis of the current year's business. At
present the State, in making up the amount in each county in which it will
participate, looks backward to last year's business. The county commis-sioners
of necessity in approving the May budget must look forward to the
business of the current year. In my opinion, both the State and the county
should sit down together and face the business of the current yeai*, and
agree upon the amount of State participation that would be fair and
equitable among all the counties. In order to do this, the State Board of
Equalization would necessarily need some discretionary power which it
does not now possess in dealing with the question of State participation
on the current year's business. The introduction of these two principles to
a fuller extent in the distribution of the equalization fund would tend rap-idly
to bring the participating tax rate and the actual tax rate more closely
together, thereby securing more nearly equalized tax rates among the
counties.
The action of the last General Assembly in giving definite and specific
aid to transportation tended to equalize the tax rate among the several
counties. Counties which are highly organized reduce the number of
teachers employed and thereby reduce the instructional cost. In order to do
this, however, transportation is necessary. The last General Assembly
recognized this principle and gave very definite aid. There should be, in
my opinion, however, a little more margin to take care of strictly rural
counties which are highly organized. The fifteen per cent limitation works
a hardship on strictly rural counties that are highly organized and trans-port
a large percentage of their children even when credited with only
$8.00 per pupil for transportation. In order to make this clear let us
compare, for instance, Wake and Caswell Counties.
Wake County. In Wake County the salary costs, including Raleigh,
amount to $398,902.07. The fifteen per cent limitation is $59,835.00. At
$8 00 per pupil the cost of transportation in Wake County is only $35,944.00.
There is a margin here of almost $24,000 due to the fact that Raleigh is
located in this county. If in Wake County we consider only the rural sal-aries
which amount to $229,706.84, fifteen per cent of the rural salaries
would allow only $34,456.60 for transportation in this county, and Wake
County would be caught by this limitation to the extent of $1,487,40.
Caswell County. In Caswell County, strictly rural territory, the salary
costs amount to $66,198.16. The fifteen per cent limitation is $9,929.00.
The transportation costs in Caswell County at $8.00 per pupil are $13,976.00
;
that is, Caswell County, due to this limitation, must gay out of its own
resources $4,047 of its transportation costs even when estimated at $8.00
per pupil.
There are eleven other counties that are caught to a greater or lesser
extent. There should be some adjustment in this fifteen per cent limita-tion
so that strictly rural counties would not have to bear alone so much of
their transportation costs when estimated at $8.00 per pupil for the average
number of children transported one and one-half miles or more.
The estimates for the equalization needs for the next biennium are omit-ted
from this report because they will probably be included in the report of
16 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
the Educational Commission. It is better to have the sound judgment of the
members of this Commission expressed in these estimates than for me to
make them alone.
The recommendations contained in this report might be summarized as
follows:
a. The consideration of the number of administrative units.
b. The consideration of the question of consolidated school terms.
c. The consideration of the question of centralizing financial control.
d. The consideration of the question of adjustments in the matter of
the distribution of the equalization fund and the increase in this fund.
CHAPTER II.
A RECORD OF GROWTH
GENERAL STATISTICS
A review of the annual school statistics for the past several years will
disclose the fact that there are certain fundamental problems of education
which have not been solved. It will be further observed, however, that
considerable progress has been made towards the solution of some of these
problems. It is the purpose of this chapter to set forth briefly and in sum-mary
form some of these changes as measured objectively.
School Enrollment and Attendance. The number of children going to
school shows an increase. At the close of the biennium, 1929-30, there were
866,939 pupils enrolled in the public schools. This State has the second
largest number of pupils enrolled in the public schools below college level in
the South, being surpassed only by Texas.
For 1900-1901, 1919-1920, and the past several years the public school
enrollment for the State has been as follows:
Table I. School Enrollment and Attendance
A. Enrollment
Year
1900-1901
1919-1920
1924-1925
1925-1926
1926-1927
1927-1928
1928-1929
1929-1930
Rural
White
290,178
374,210
421,134
427,745
425,863
437,685
441,979
445 , 325
Colored
141,180
172,739
191,736
196,014
189,625
196,041
193,558
190,817
Charter
White
103,979
138,262
136,369
145,193
149,012
153,768
162,019
Colored
40,321
58,702
58,611
63,470
66,040
66,577
68,778
Total
431,358
691,249
809 , 834
818,793
824,151
848,778
855 , 882
866,939
18 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
According to the United States Office of Education 29 per cent of the
total population of the State are enrolled in public schools, and in this
respect ranks second among the states of the nation, exceeded only by
Mississippi.
Children between the ages of six and twenty-one now number more
than a million, and 84 of each 100 of these are now actually enrolled in
the public elementary and high schols, whereas at the beginning of the
century only 65 of each 100 children of school age attended the public
schools.
In like manner, the margin between school enrollment and average daily
attendance is not now as great as it was in former years.
Reference to the following table will show the improvement for the State
in these items:
Table II. School Population and Attendance
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 19
The improvement for the State made within the past several years is
shown as follows:
Table III.
20 Report of Superintendent op Public Instruction
As this table shows the number of white children having the advantage of
schools operating eight months or more has increased from 282,788, or
53.3 per cent of the total white enrollment, in 1922-1923 to 500,880 or 82.5
per cent of the total white pupils enrolled in 1929-1930. The number of
colored pupils in school having long terms has increased from 57,760 in
1922-1923 to 99,164 in 1929-1930, or from 24.2 per cent to 38.2 per cent.
There are 259,496 more children in schools having terms of eight months
or longer than there were in 1922-1923. Of the total 866,939 children en-rolled
in the public schools, 600,044 or 69.2 per cent have the advantage of
schools which operate eight months or more during the year.
Enrollment in Short Term Schools. The number of children enrolled in
schools operating less than an eight months term tends to decrease. In
1922-1923 there were 247,984 white and 181,384 colored children in short
term schools, mostly six months. In 1929-1930, the latest year for which
figures are available, 106,464 white children and 160,431 colored children,
nearly all of whom were in rural districts, attended short term schools.
The following table shows the number and percentage for the past several
years
:
Table V. Enrollment in Schools Having Terms of Less Than Eight
Months
White
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 21
teacher schools alone, whereas today there are only 2,111 schools of this
size. The records show that all the small schools are decreasing very
rapidly. For a few selected years these facts are given below:
Table VI. Small Schools
Year
22 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table VIII. Public Transportation of Pupils
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 23
Capital Outlay. The amounts expended for capital outlay purposes varies
from year to year, as the following tables shows:
Table XI. Capital Outlay Expenditures
Year
24 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The Chart. The chart presented on this page shows graphically
the growth in school expenditures during the past decade, and the propor-tions
expended for current and capital outlay purposes.
STANDARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
In the past few years throughout the State there has been a wide-spread
realization of the vital importance of the elmentary school as the founda-tion
of our educational life. This desire to give the children a more effec-tive
opportunity for the fimdamentals of an education has concerned itself
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 25
with such essential factors as length of term, the size of the school, the
training- of teachers, adequate equipment and an enriched course of study.
Requirements for Standard Schools. In 1924 as a result of this urgent
demand for more effective elementary schools standards were set up which
included the following requirements:
1. A Seven-year Course of Study, with adequate provision for the funda-mentals,
proper emphasis on health and physical education, and the enrich-ment
of the curriculum through courses in music and art.
2. Length of Tei-m—eight months.
3. Number of Teachers—at least seven whole-time teachers.
4. Qualifications of Teachers—all teachers must hold at least Elementary
A certificates. (This represents one year of training beyond high school
graduation).
5. Attendance—at least 205 pupils in average daily attendance.
6. Equipment—to include (a) supplementary reading material, (b)
maps, (c) dictionaries, (d) library of at least 300 volumes, and (e) special
primary equipment.
7. Permanent Records.
8. An Adequate Sanitary Building.
Higher classification is given to schools offering a wider opportunity
—
with a nine-months term; eight or more teachers, the majority of whom
have had at least two years of training; and a library of 500 to 700 volumes.
Progress in Meeting the Standards. In the fall of 1924 the work of visit-ing
the schools and applying these standards was begun. At that time
there were 270 rural schools which had seven or more teachers and an eight-months
school term. Today there are 448 rural schools which meet these
two requirements. In Table XII is shown the progress made in the past
six years in providing these two essential items for carrying on a seven-year
course of study: (1) a term of at least eight months, and (2) a
school of sufficient size to employ at least seven teachers.
Table XIII shows that real progress has been made each year in employ-ing
better training teachers. In 1924 there were only 62 large rural schools
in which all teachers had at least one year of college or normal training,
but this year, 1929-1930, we find that 406 rural schools employ teachers with
the required training.
Table XIV gives the number of schools each year meeting all requirements
for standard schools. This table shows that in 1924 there were only 26 rural
schools and 30 special charter schools which were classified as standard
schools, but so effective have been the efforts of the people throughout the
State to build up strong schools that today there are 243 rural schools
which are standard and 147 special charter schools, making a total of 390
standard elementary schools in the State. Many of the special charter
schools have manifest their deep interest in providing a more effective op-portunity
for the children in the elementary school as shown by the in-crease
each year in standard schools in the cities. The 147 special charter
standard schools include six Negro schools. Interest in the work is grow-ing
in many Negro schools, and efforts are being put forth to make the
needed improvements but lack of financial aid is the most serious handicap.
26 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XII. Number of Schools Having Seven or More Teachers and
At Least An Eight-Months Term
Year
Report op Superintendent of Public Instruction 27
Table XV. Per Cent of Total White Elementary School Enrollment
in Standard Elementary Schools for the Year 1929-30.
28 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XVII. Per Cent of White Public School Enrollment
IN High Schools
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 29
Table XIX. Per Cent High School Enrollment is of Total By Race
1929-30
•
30 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Enriched Instruction. Table XXII shows the rapid elimination of the
small type high school. While there are still too many small high schools,
the tendency seems to be in the direction of eliminating the small high
schools by further consolidation. The average number of teachers per high
school is now 5.38, 95.73 per cent of the pupils are enrolled in high schools
with three or more teachers and 50.14 per cent are enrolled in high schools
with more than six teachers. This makes possible in many of the schools
a broadened and enriched cun-iculum.
Table XXII. Distribution By Size of Schools—White Public Schools
1929-30
Size of
School by
Number of
Teachers
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 31
Table XXIII. Growth of Accredited High Schools, 1929-30
32 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
knows the laws of physical growth, mental and moral development, unless
she recognizes the relations of the curriculum to the life of the child and
to the world about him, unless she understands the activities that are
conducive to child development, unless she comprehends the aims and ob-jectives
of public education, her work in a modern school will be ineffective.
For these reasons, greater stress than ever before must be placed upon the
teacher's personal character, upon her scholastic accomplishments, and upon
her sympathetic attitude toward childhood. Many elements enter into the
operation of a good school, but the most vital element in this structure is
a teacher of unquestioned power and ability.
The people of North Carolina are rapidly coming to recognize these facts
and each year they are demanding teachers of more satisfactory training.
Growth In Number of Teachers. Table XXV shows the growth in num-ber
of teachers over a period of time, from 1899-1900 to 1928-1929, for each
of the races and according to rural and city schools. This growth has been
significant but no greater than was necessary to take care of the increased
enrollment in the public schools.
Table XXV. Number of Public School Teachers
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 33
Table XXVI. Number of Teachers By Certificates Held, 1921-22 and
1929-30
Certificates
County
Provisional B
Provisional A
Temporary
Provisional Elementary
Elementary B
Elementary A
Provisional Primary and Grammar Grade
.
Primary and Grammar Grade C
Primary and Grammar Grade B
Primary and Grammar Grade A
Elementary Principal
High School C
High School B
High School A
High School Principal
Supervisor
Superintendent*
Special
Total Number
.
Standard
Non-Standard
.
Total Per Cent
.
Standard
Non-Standard .
.
White
1921-1922
1,504
617
673
93
560
4,963
887
2,111
654
536
548
234
867
718
39
134
116
15,254
12,367
2,887
100.00
81.05
18.95
1929-1930
43
6
36
1,236
2,571
64
2,260
2,795
2,389
64
280
598
4,084
631
28
259
17,599
17,504
85
100.00
89.51
0.49
Colored
1921-1922
1,567
350
342
47
168
1,342
68
475
24
10
44
14
21
55
5
1
21
4,544
2,248
2,306
100.00
49.34
50.66
1929-1930
431
3
31
554
1,251
1,067
640
965
181
5
110
209
449
82
5
4
5,987
4,968
1,019
100.00
83.00
17.00
*Teachers or principals who hold superintendent's certificates.
The County, Provisional B, Provisional A and One Year Temporary
Certificates represent training less than equivalent of standard high school
graduation. It may be observed that in 1921-1922, 2887 or 18.95 per cent
of the white teachers did not have training representing high school grad-uation.
In 1929-1930 only 85 or 0.49 per cent of the total number of white
teachers had such limited training. In 1921-1922, from a total of 4544
colored teachers 2248 or 50.66 per cent had not had training represented
by high school graduation. For 1929-1930, from a total of 5987, only 1019
or 17.08 per cent had had such meager training. It is vei'y evident that dur-ing
this eight year period commendable progress has been made in improv-ing
the scholarship of the teachers.
In-service Training. For many years the emphasis in North Carolina
has been placed on the effort to offer training to the teachers in service.
At first teachers were required to attend institutes. In 1919 a system of
county summer schools was organized in an effort to raise the general level
of training. These efforts were appropriate and essential, because at that
time many thousand teachers were not even high school graduates. After
34 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
three or four years of county summer school work the number of high
school graduates increased to such an extent that it was no longer necessary
to admit those to the teaching profession who were not at least high school
graduates. There no longer existed a need for county summer schools, and
for the white teachers they were discontinued in 1925.
At the present time the chief agencies contributing to the program of in-service
training are the approved summer schools conducted by certain in-stitutions
of higher learning, and extension service which a few institu-tions
provide. The extension work consists of class teaching and corres-pondence
study instruction. The tables which follow show the attendance
of teachers at summer school and their enrollment in extension work.
Table XXVII. Summer School Attendance
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 35
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
The improvement of classroom instruction is now one of the outstanding
needs of our rural elementary schools. This need is being met, so far as
practicable, in the white schools, through the Division of Elementary In-struction,
working in cooperation with county superintendents, principals
and teachers not only in counties without rural school supervision, but also
in counties with supervision.
General Nature and Scope of Work. Broadly stated, the work of the
Division in helping to improve classroom teaching is along the following
main lines:
1. Aiding county school officials in providing the most favorable condi-tion
practicable for good classroom instruction by helping them in working
out and in putting into operation an economic and an adequate plan for the
county-wide consolidation of schools.
2. Aiding the county superintendent in the professional improvement of
his teachers in service: through county teachers' meetings; through in-dividual
and group conferences with his teachers; through the getting out
of bulletins on various subjects in the common school branches; through
carefully worked out suggestions for a better adaptation of the State Course
of Study to the everyday needs of the pupils; and through definitely sug-gested
professional study for his teaching force.
3. Aiding the county superintendent and his teachers in better organiza-tion
of the schools, better gradation and classification of the pupils within
the school and more efficient teaching of the common school subjects,
through personal visitation with county superintendent to his individual
schools, and through follow-up conferences with the teachers whose work
has been observed.
Working With Rural Elementary School Supervisors. Recognizing that
effective supervision is a direct and vital agency for the improvement of
classroom instruction, the State, in counties participating in the Equaliza-tion
Fund, is encouraging county boards of education in the employment of
adequately trained rural school supervisors to assist the county superintend-ent
in the professional direction of his work by paying a part of their
salary and travelling expenses. For the year 1929-1930, 27 of the 94
counties participating in this fund employed white rural school supervisors,
while 5 of the 6 non-participating counties employed supervisors, paying
the entire amount of their salary and expenses out of county funds.
Therefore, this Division, in addition to working with county superintend-ents,
principals and teachers in non-supervised counties is also working
actively and constructively in those counties employing supervisors.
Table XXIX. Brief Summary of the Work of the Rural School
Supervisors
Total number white rural school supervisors
Distribution of Super\'isor's Time
1. Average number days per week spent by the average super-visor
in visiting schools during school term
2. Total number days spent by the average supervisor in each
school in the county
1927-1928
29
4.2
1928-1929
31
4.0
4.2
1929-1930
32
3 9
4.2
36 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
II. Number and Types of White Rxiral Schools
1
.
Total number
2. Average per county
3. Average number one-teacher schools
4. Average number per county having 7 teachers or more and
running for 8 months term or more
5. Total number standard rural elementary schools
(a) Average per county
III. Number and Training of White Rural Elementary Teachers
1. Total number
(a) Average number per county
2. Per cent of teachers having 4 or more years of college training
.
3. Per cent of teachers with Elementary B Certificates, or lower.
4. Average scholarship indix of supervised teachers
IV. School Enrollment and Daily Attendance
1. Total white rural elementary enrollment
2. Per cent of enrollment in daily attendance
3. Per cent of total rural enrollment in high school
V. Promoting Professional Growth of Teachers in Service Through
Teachers' Meetings and Directed Professional Study.
1. Total number days given by the average supervisor to con-ducting
annual county-wide conferences with teachers before
the opening of schools
2. Total number days given by the average supervisor to
county-wide teachers' meetings during school term
3. Total number days given by average supervisor to group and
grade meetings
4. Total number central schools in the average county having
a teachers' professional library
5. Total number professional books read during the year by
the average supervised teacher
6. Total principals' meetings conducted in average county
VI. Promoting Professional Growth of Teachers Through Classroom
Visitation and Directed Larger Unit Teaching
1. Per cent of classrooms visited one or more times
2. Per cent of classrooms visited two or more times
3. Per cent of classrooms visited three or more times
4. Average number schools per county doing larger unit teaching.
VII. Promoting Professional Growth of Teachers Through Individual
and Group Conferences and Through Demonstration Teaching
1. Total number individual and group conferences conducted
with teachers and principals in classrooms and county office
.
2. Total number conducted by the average supervisor
3. Total number demonstration lessons taught by supervisors
for their teachers
4
.
Total demonstration lessons taught by the average supervisor
VIII. Provisons for a Normal Pupil Start
1. Total pre-school enrollment
2. Total pre-school enrollment in the average county
3. Total pre-school enrollment given physical examinations. . . .
4. Total pre-school enrollment in the average county given
physical examinations
IX. Promoting Pupil Growth Through Literary Societies, Health
Clubs, and Coiirses in Music Appreciation
1. Total schools in average county having literary societies. . .
.
2. Total literary contests in the average county
1927-1928
Report op Superintendent of Public Instruction 37
1927-1928
38 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
instruction is proving to be both an educational value to the children and
an economic value to the people who pay the bill.
It has been shown by facts that at the end of a three-year period of
efficient supervision of classroom instruction that the fourth grade pupils
in the counties tested were reading and working arithmetic better than were
the fifth grade pupils in these same counties at the beginning of the period
of close supervision. It means that within the three-year period of con-stant
and expert supervision the pupils in these counties gained approxi-mately
one whole year in their mastery of the subject of reading and arith-metic.
The monetary value to the tax payer has still further been proven by the
fact that for every dollar expended in their county for supervision $8.14
worth of additional instruction was purchased for the pupils.
SCHOOL LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT
The school library continues to grow and become more and more an
integral part of the life of the school, assuming a closer and more intimate
relationship to all its activities. This is no doubt due to modern educa-tional
developments, particularly the movement resulting in the partial
breakdown of subject matter division and complete dependency on the text-took.
The wide awake teacher looks beyond the text book and sees the
need of a large collection of materials,—pamphlets, periodicals, pictures,
newspapers, as well as books. This is being reflected in the collections be-longing
to school libraries. An effort is being made to fill both the course
of study needs and the recreational needs of the children in our schools.
Since one may be better or worse for his reading, the child should leai'n,
through association, books that are worthwhile. This consideration should
control the selection of books placed in the hands of the boys and girls, so
that they shall enjoy the right kind of reading.
Number of Volumes. There are now more than one million books in the
public school libraries of the State. Figures for 1928-1929 show an in-crease
in number of volumes owned of 269,601 books over that of the report
for 1926-1927. Of these books, 732,376 are in rural schools, 420,950 in
charter or city schools. These 1,153,326 volumes of literature, standard
fiction, books of reference and supplementary materials, and other books for
children's reading are shelved in 2,532 public school libraries. With this
large increase, nevertheless, there is an average of only 1.3 books per child
enrolled in the schools of the State. The reading interest of the children
shows these books to be in constant use. One school system shows an
average of books read per pupil in the elementary grades during 1928-29 to
be nearly 40. A high school reports an average circulation of 30.1 books
per pupil enrolled. This shows a conscious effort and desire on the part of
the pupils to broaden their outlook and enliven the textbook guide which
they follow. Keen interest in this activity is evidenced by the fact that
$246,374.85 has been spent for school libraries during 1929-1930. About one
half this amount has been used for elementary school libraries. Figures
for 1929-1930 in regard to these items are not yet available, but tentative
ones indicate an increase. A table showing the growth in number of
volumes ovimed in the rural and city schools of the State and the average
number of volumes per pupil enrolled follows:
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 39
Table XXX. Number and Average Number Per Pupil of Volumes
Owned in School Libraries
Year
40 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
SCHOOLHOUSE BUILDING
The increase in population during the ten years census period of 1920-
1930 brought with it the problem of school housing accommodation to meet
the emergency. The problem was one which both urban and rural com-munities
were called upon to solve.
In 1920 the census showed a population for North Carolina of 2,572,296,
while the 1930 figures give a population of 3,165,144, or a total gain for
the decade of 587,850. The school population for 1928-1929 was 1,013,906,
and for 1929-1930 approximately 1,032,000—a gain of 18,094. The compara-tive
school enrollment for the two years is as follows: 1928-1929, 855,882,
and for 1929-1930 a total of 866,939, making a gain of 11,057.
For this increased enrollment alone it is easy to compute the additional
school room space required to accommodate those who may be counted
upon to enter school. Allowing 36 children to a grade it is seen that 307
class rooms will be necessary, or 31 buildings of ten rooms each, this type
being regarded as of an average capacity.
State Aid. The aid which was given the different counties from the Lit-erary
Loan Fund was of the greatest value, for without it the immediate
need for additional accommodation could not be met. For the school year
1928-1929 the fund provided $294,300 and for 1929-1930, $306,000, making a
grand total of $600,300.
As $30,000 is a reasonable low cost for a ten-room building, including site,
general contract, heating, plumbing and wiring, it is seen that for this
amount twenty such buildings could be erected. This would not, however,
provide for auditorium chairs, desks, laboratory equipment, etc.
However, with the aid of this fund, which has been supplemented and in
many instances duplicated from local sources, the Boards of Education and
County Superintendents have been enabled to carry on a building program
which has gone far toward meeting the emergency which this unprecedented
increased school census has brought about.
A few counties have practically completed their county-wide building pro-grams,
the same being regarded as complete when opportunity is given to
every child to attend with reasonable effort a primary, intermediate and
accredited high school for the period and length of term required.
Value of School Property. While the spirit of progress has prevailed in
matters pertaining to our material and industrial life, so also have rapid
strides been made in providing modern school buildings and the equipment
required in this enlightened age to promote culture and learning and good
citizenship.
The decade which closes with the year 1930 marks an important epoch
in our State's history. It will stand and be known as a school-building
period in which intelligent men and women have realized as never before the
importance and necessity for well-planned, well-built houses, of pleasing
design and placed so as to conveniently serve the community at large.
The following tables show the total per capita appraised value of all
school property at the close of certain selected years:
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 41
Table XXXII. Appraised Value of Public School Property
Year
42 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The main objectives and aims for which this department was started is
to get county superintendents, principals, teachers, communities, and others
to realize the following:
1. That landscaping school grounds is arranging the whole of the school
property so that the best human use may be made of it. Planting trees,
shrubs and flowers is only a part of landscaping.
2. That landscaping should not be considered as extra or unnecessary
work.
3. That landscaping means up-keep of property in which the counties
and the State have invested millions.
4. That in landscaping the property is made more attractive and more
beautiful by planting trees, grass, shrubs and flowers.
5. That interest in this work on the part of the pupils gives them
closer ties and greater appreciation of the school in that it is a better place
to live and to play.
6. That a teacher who fails to realize that the school grounds should be
as attractive as the school room and who fails to instill this idea into the
minds of the children fails that far in rounding out the character of those
who are in his or her charge.
7. That the eff"ect of landscaping may not be felt in the schools alone,
but that the appearance of rural home grounds especilly may be improved as
a result of this work in the school.
8. To get teachers and the community to realize that no woi'k they can
do in their schools makes a greater impression upon the general public, since
our highways bring millions by our door yearly that do not have time to
stop and make a careful study of class room work. But if school grounds
are well planned, well planted and well kept, immediately a good impression
is made. Signs of interest in the school by the community and signs of
prosperity and success are expressed in the school ground which is the
community center.
In keeping with the aims set up in this woi*k, the department has cooper-ated
with the Agricultural Extension Division of State College by giving
lectui'es to county groups of Home Demonstration Clubs, giving instruction
to Home Demonstration Agents in their annual Short Courses and instruct-ing
farm women of the State during the annual Farmers and Women's Short
Course held at North Carolina State College.
Lectures have been given and slides have been shown to other groups of
people interested in civic improvement. In these lectures we have stressed
not only school and home ground improvement, but street and highway im-provement.
Special stress has been placed upon highway and home ground improve-ment
as our part in the Governor's Live-at-Home Movement. For if our
hohies and highways are made more attractive, it will be easier to live hap-pily
in North Carolina, "The Live-at-Home State,"
Report op Superintendent of Public Instruction 43
RURAL HALL, FORSYTH COUNTY
Before Landscaping, Land Rocky and Badly Washed, No Planting.
RURAL HALL, FORSYTH COUNTY
After Landscaping, Yard All in Grass, Shrubbery and Trees Planted, Retaining Wall Built,
Lighting Standards Installed, Foundation Planting Around Building
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
In 1927-1928 the Department through its Division of Information and
Statistics began to promote educational research and to collect information,
annually, regarding educational studies being conducted throughout the
State. In the past three years data involving more than 1,100 separate
educational studies have been collected. Many of these studies represent
coopertive research in which large groups of individuals have participated.
A primary objective has been to stimulate research at the teacher's level—
•
well organized activity programs, projects, big unit studies, experiments,
etc. Study habits inevitably result in economy and increased efficiency in
44 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
public school and institutional administration, and more especially do they
result in improved instruction and enriched educational opportunities for
the boys and girls of North Carolina.
A table showing the increase in number of units reporting and the num-ber
of studies conducted is, herewith, presented. It is believed that im-provement
in the quality of the studies has kept pace, annually, with the
numerical increase.
Table XXXIV. Total Number Education Studies Reported in North
Carolina
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 45
Table XXXV. Certificates Held By Colored Teachers
Class
46 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XXXVI. Improvement of Teachers
School
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 47
elementary teachers. The enrollment in the three state institutions and the
number of departments and enrollment in private institutions are shown
below.
48 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XL. Distribution of Colored Enrollment By Grades
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 49
Table XLII. Growth of Public High Schools for Colored Children
Year
50 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
at least: "This is mine and for me." It touches him as an individual. It
recognizes him as a person. He is not merely a part of a great whole; he
is somebody that counts. Public education is no longer something that is
being imposed on him from without and against his will. It is something to
be ardently desired. He no longer sends his child to school at the bidding
of the law; he accepts the opportunity as an inestimable privilege. Like-wise,
this building program has had a most wholesome effect upon the white
people of the State. It has helped to liberalize their thinking and to
stimulate their interest in providing schools for the Negro children.
Jeanes Fund. During the school year 1929-1930 forty-three Jeanes super-visors
were employed to do work in forty-one counties. These workers by
making 6,887 visits supervised 1,401 schools with 2,627 teachers. These
teachers have aided in installing 262 libraries, and in organizing many
Parent-Teacher Associations; in building 31 new school buildings and one
shop; in increasing the school term in 84 schools, and in raising $33,488.99.
Note—Above figures include only 39 counties, two failing to report.
North Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers. The number
of associations reported by delegates and supervisors in 1927 was 770 with
a total membership of 10,770, and money raised, $65,513.97. At the annual
meeting in 1929 reports showed 953 associations with a total membership
of 17,597. The accomplishments of these associations cover a wide range of
activities as shown by the recapitulation of reports, some of which are as
follows: Pianos, sewing machines, moving picture machines, stoves, tables,
chairs, desks, clocks, kitchen cabinets, scales, maps, new buildings, nurses
providing, land purchased for Rosenwald schools, playground equipment,
offices and auditoriums equipped, lunch rooms equipped and operated, Rosen-wald
schools. To provide these items a total amount of $116,115.51 was
raised in two years.
Slater Fund Aid. For more than ten years the Slater Fund has aided
in developing Negro high schools. This aid is given both on the payment
of teachers' salaries and for the purchase of needed teaching equipment in
the high schools—called in many sections County Training Schools. During
the past five years this Fund has contributed to the payment of salaries,
$55,785.00 in 44 schools; and for equipment, $19,075.00. Without this aid
many of these schools which are now accredited high schools could not pos-sibly
have achieved that goal.
General Education Board. Throughout the period of the existance of the
Division of Negro Education in the Department of Public Instruction, the
General Education Board has contributed the entire salary and expenses
of one member, and part salary of other members of the Division at differ-ent
times. In this way the Board has contributed to the organization and
direction of the various enterprises in Negro education supported by the
State, and other Foundations,—the Rosenwald, Jeanes and Slater Funds.
Formerly the Board made liberal appropriations for salaries and equip-ment
in county training (high) schools, summer schools and home making
clubs. It has also contributed large sums for permanent improvements,
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 51
buildings and equipment, for state and private normal schools and colleges.
A summary of these and other contributions from Foundations for Negro
education in North Carolina for a single year, 1929, is given below:
Table XLIV. Contributions By Philanthropic Agencies, 1929
a. Rosenwald Fund:
School buildings $61,650.00
Transportation of pupils 17 , 852 . 50
Extension of school terms 9,513.36
School libraries 2,876.00
School radios 270 . 00
Traveling expense of librarian 350 . 00
Building supervisor 1 , 500 . 00
Rosenwald Day Program 100 . 00
Winston-Salem Industrial High School 50,000.00
Librarians training course 2 , 000 . 00
Bennett College (current expense) 15,000.00
St. Augustine's College (library building and equipment) 7,500.00
Winston-Salem Health Unit 2 ,000 .00
N. C. College at Durham (library) 1,750.00
A. & T. College at Greensboro (library) 1 , 250 . 00
Livingstone College at Salisbury (library) 500 . 00
Kittrell College (library) 500 .00
Livingstone College (building fund) 30,000.00
Fayetteville State Normal (building fund) 30,000.00
St. Augustine's College (dormitory and dining hall) 10,000.00
Scholarships (10 persons) 10 , 100 . 00
Total $254,441.86
b. General Education Board:
N. C. College, Durham (equipment and dining hall) $45,000.00
Fayetteville State Normal School (practice school) 35 , 000 . 00
St. Augustine's College (building program) 40,000.00
State Department Education (Division Negro Education) 10 , 500 . 00
Scholarships (5 persons) 5 , 500 . 00
Winston-Salem Teachers College (equipment) 2 , 500 . 00
Total $138,500.00
0. Slater Fund:
Salaries in county training schools $ 5 , 300 . 00
Equipment in county training schools 7 , 750 . 00
Salaries in colleges 6 , 525 . 00
Total $ 19,575.00
d. Jeanes Fund:
Salaries and expenses of school supervisors $11,709.00
Total $ 11 , 709 . 00
Grand Total $424,225.86
CHAPTER III
REPORT ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Under the provisions of Section 292, Public School Laws, Consolidated
Statutes 5702 (Vol. III.) the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, as
ex-officio chairman of the State Board of Vocational Education, makes a re-port
to the Governor, setting forth the development of the program for
Vocational Education in the State. This report is intended to cover the
high spots in the progress of the four separate departments administered
by the State Board of Vocational Education through the Division of Vo-cational
Education. The information concerning this program is found in
the following specific sections of this chapter.
With the increasing pressure of the financial burden in the promotion
of public enterprises the attention of the people is more positively called
to the importance of those subjects in the curriculum that tend to increase
the power of people to pay taxes. This particular phase of public educa-tion
has for its chief function the increasing of the earning power of the
citizens in order that they may be able to get full enjoyment out of their
occupations and be more worth while as members of their social group.
In North Carolina we have been fortunate in being able to keep the program
in vocational education closely affiliated with general education, and in no
way have allowed it to supplant the subjects needed by every person to be-come
a satisfied and worth while citizen of the State.
The annual appropriation from the Federal Government under the Smith-
Hughes Act, 1917, for the support of this division is as follows: $172,354.27,
and under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 1920, $24,308.00. In addition to
these appropriations, the allotment to North Carolina under the George-
Reed Act, which passed Congress in 1928, is for the year 1929-1930, $22,-
430.50 for agriculture and home economics. This annual appropriation
under the George-Reed Act increases by this amount annually for four
years until it reaches $112,152.50. The total amount available from Federal
funds for the promotion of vocational education in North Carolina during
the year ending June 30th, 1931, is $241,543.31. These funds are appro-priated
to the State on condition that for each dollar of Federal money spent
there shall be spent a dollar of State or local money.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
It is the function of this Department to promote the teaching of agricul-ture
of less than college grade to the boys and men in North Carolina who
are interested in learning better methods of farming and of improving the
conditions of rural life. This function is performed in connection with the
public rural high schools and through organized classes serving the follow-ing
groups: All-day students in high schools electing agriculture as a part
of their course, the adult farmers who come back to the school and take
evening courses related to their current problems, part-time classes for
mature boys who have left school and come back during the leisure months
for special instruction, and short unit courses for mature boys in outlying
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 53
schools who are not prepared for high school. In addition to these duties,
the teacher of agriculture gives courses in farm shop work for all students
in the day schools and assists with the organization of the local chapters
of the Future Farmers of America. Each student in vocational agriculture
is required to carry on, either at home or on land provided by the school,
supervised farm practice, which is the laboratory of the course, and to which
he applies the instruction received from the teacher. The teachers of agri-culture
are employed on a twelve months basis, because the supervision of
the practical work during the summer is of equal importance with class
work, and the supervisors give close supervision to this practical work.
The Federal funds for the teaching of agricultural subjects are ap-propriated
to the states in the ratio which their rural population bears to
the total rural population of the United States. This ratio has given to
North Carolina a larger share of these funds for the promotion of this
phase of the program than for any other. This has resulted in the State's
enrolling in definitely organized classes in vocational agriculture in connec-tion
with the public schools 62,240 farmers and farm boys. The results
of this instruction have been reflected in a very decided improvement in
the farm practices and home conditions in the environment of these schools.
The rapid development of the consolidation program in North Carolina
has lent itself admirably to the extending of vocational agricultural educa-tion
because of the fact that it is only in the larger type schools that this
trained teacher of agriculture can be employed on an economic basis.
This program is primarly a public school program and can accomplish
its purpose more effectively through group instruction followed up by super-vised
practice work upon the farmers, thus enabling a student to try out the
lessons taught in the class. The supervised practice work has proven one
of the most effective means of popularizing the program, because after all
vocational education must prove itself by showing that training in a voca-tion
enables the person trained to get greater returns on his labor. The
practical results obtained from the supervised practice work in North Car-olina
have more than justified the investment.
A part of the program of each department of vocational agriculture is
farm shop work, by means of which each boy is taught the use of ordinary
carpenter's tools in the construction and repair of farm conveniences.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1918-1919:
54 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION
In the past the Federal appropriation for home economics has been very
small, and consequently it was only used in evening and part-time classes
for the purpose of teaching the fundamentals of home-making to mature
girls and women who are not in the regular high school. The Smith-
Hughes law only permits the use of twenty per cent of the Trade and In-dustrial
funds for home economics education. The day school program of
home economics education conducted as a part of the high school program
has been supported from state and local funds.
In 1928 Congress passed the George-Reed Act providing additional funds
for the teaching of agriculture and home economics. The funds available
under this law have enabled North Carolina to greatly enlarge and improve
its program of home economics education.
The teachers in the George-Reed day schools are engaged for a term of
ten months, half of their salary being paid from Federal funds, the other
half being paid from local and State funds equally. The outstanding ac-complishment
of this program is the result obtained through the supervised
home project, which is a requirement for this type of school. These teach-ers
help the girls with their home practices just as the teachers of agricul-ture
help the boys and men.
The purpose of the program in home economics education is to give to the
girls and women of the State, through organized instruction, fundamental
training in homemaking, involving the selection and preparation of foods,
the selection, construction and care of clothing, interior and exterior decora-tion,
budget making, child care, etc.
The evening home economics classes conducted in cooperation with the
industrial plants and city school systems have proven an exceedingly popu-lar
and worth while feature. It is the desire of the State Board to extend
this type of training to just as many prospective and actual housekeepers
as possible. The results of this work are already quite evident in the im-proved
home and better living conditions of people in the centers where the
courses have been conducted for a sufficiently long period.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1918-1919:
Table II. Growth in Home Economics Education
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 55
TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
The Department of Trade and Industrial Education is shouldered with the
responsibility of surveying the industrial situation with reference to educa-tional
opportunities for employees and persons preparing to enter employ-ment
in the industries of the State, of organizing trade and industrial classes
to meet the needs of such persons, selecting and training teachers for the
classes, and by supervising the instruction in these classes. An effort has
been made to provide educational opportunities for persons in every in-dustrial
activity in North Carolina. This opportunity is provided through
evening classes for employed persons and people preparing for employment,
and all day trade classes for young people concerned with preparation for
entering industrial and trade work.
It is a challenge to the public school authorities of the State and local
districts to provide vocational training for this tremendous army of work-ers
so that they may enter employment with some preparation for the job,
and more important to provide opportunity for those employed persons who
are ambitious for advancement to continue their training while on the job,
because we know such training does function in their daily activities.
Up to the present time this department has found that it can use the
small allotment of funds more advantageously by confining its activities
largely to evening class work, and the interest of both employees and em-ployers
in the vocation classes conducted for employed workers during hours
outside of the time of employment has been very gratifying. Employers
have shown a fine spirit of cooperation by helping to supply funds and by
promoting the students who have shown good records in the evening classes.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1918-1919:
Table III. Growth in Trade and Industrial Education
56 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The work consists of finding cripples of employable age, disabled through
public or industrial accidents and by disease or congenital causes, securing
physical restoration, giving vocational advice, providing necessary vocational
training and other aids, supervising the training, and securing suitable
employment.
After the cripple has been physically restored to the best of the ability of
modern surgery, he is directed into the vocation for which his various
abilities best fit him and in which his disability will not prove a handicap.
He is trained in a shop, office, factory, vocational school, business college or
university, wherever the needed training can best be secured, and he is then
placed in suitable employment. Not until he has secured employment at
which he can support himself and dependents are the services considered
complete.
Much valued service is obtained through the close cooperation with the
Industrial Commission, the State Board of Health and many local agencies,
including civic clubs, orthopaedic surgeons, hospitals and county and city
educational and social workers.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1921-1922:
Table IV. Growth in Civilian Rehabilitation
Year

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Educational Publication No. 155 Division of Publications No. 48
BIENNIAL REPORT
OP THE
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC
INSTRUCTION
OP
NORTH CAROLINA
FOR THE SCHOLASTIC YEARS
1928-1929 and 1929-1930
PART I
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Published by the
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Raleigh, N. C.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
State ot' North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction,
Raleigh, N. C.
To His Excellency, Governor O. Max Gardner,
and
To the Members of the General Assembly of 1931
:
Under the provisions of C. S. Ill, 5403 (1) and of chapter 248, Public
Lavv^s of 1929, and in compliance therewith, I am submitting my official
report as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. This report, Mobile
pertaining especially to the operation of the public schools for the biennium
ending June thirtieth, one thousand nine hundred thirty, presents certain
facts from former years as basic comparative material.
The facts submitted herein are neither elaborate nor exhaustive. Sufficient
material is included, however, to indicate the trends and to be symptomatic
of what is going on. Subsequent parts of this report, as shown in the in-troduction,
furnish detailed tabulation of statistical and financial records
which have been collected from all the administrative units of the State.
Certain recommendations are also submitted for your consideration. They
suggest lines of development which, in my opinion, if followed would greatly
improve the total school situation in the State. These pertain largely to
the development of administrative machinery which can be operated along
lines of business efficiency and sound economy.
I believe you will be much gratified and greatly encouraged by the ev-idences
of healthy expansion and sound development which have taken place
throughout the system.
Very respectfully submitted,
O- L
State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
9G;17
PART I
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR FUTURE OPERATION
PAGE
Historical Setting 5
Suggestions and Recommendations 9
1. Economy in Consolidation of Terms 9
2. Economy in Centralized Financial Terms 10
3. Economy in Administration 11
4. Equalization Fund 13
CHAPTER II. A RECORD OF GROWTH
General Statistics 17
Standard Elementary Schools 24
The High Schools 27
The Teaching Force 31
Elementary School Instruction 35
School Library Development 38
Schoolhouse Building 40
Educational Research 43
Negro Education , 44
CHAPTER III. REPORT ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Agricultural Education 52
Home Economics Education 54
Trade and Industrial Education 55
Civilian Rehabilitation 55
CHAPTER I
HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR FUTURE OPERATION
HISTORICAL SETTING
Perhaps this is not the place to attempt an exhaustive analysis of the
total school situation in North Carolina. A clear understanding, however,
of the meaning of present conditions is necessary and antecedent to any
serious consideration of modified lines of development. Our system of ed-ucation
is deeply rooted in the past. Any suggestions about its future
should, therefore, rest upon sound historical foundations. Its story is in-tricate,
but interesting. It represents, perhaps, the aspirations of our
people more closely than any other line of development.
First Beginnings. It is now almost a hundred years since North Carolina,
with deliberate and studied determination and on the basis of a popular vote,
first threw its whole weight unreservedly into the balance in favor of the
public school system. By 1860, according to the testimony of many witness-es,
our system had come to rank among the first in the whole country.
Due to the interruption of the war, however, and to the consequent destruc-tion
wrought by it, it was necessary for us in 1876 to begin anew.
Under the Constitution as set up and interpreted at that time, in the
thinking of everybody, the county commissioners were charged with the
sole financial responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the public
schools. This idea dominated and controlled all legislation for almost a
quarter of a century. There were, for instance, constitutional requirements
that the schools should be free of tuition charges, that the system should
be uniform, and that the school in each and every district should be operated
for at least four months in each and every year. In another place in the same
Constitution, the poll tax was fixed at $2.00, which was equal in amount
to the maximum property tax that could be levied on three hundred dollars
worth of taxable values. This provision fixed the limit of ad valorem taxa-tion
at 66% cents on the hundred dollars worth of property for all public
purposes.
The wealth of each separate county, supplemented by the income from
the permanent school fund, was the basis of support for the educational sys-tem
in that county. The counties, then as now, differed among themselves
in financial strength. Some of the counties could, within the tax limit fixed,
maintain a four months school, but the others could not. As a consequence,
we had a level tax rate in all parts of the State, but an unequal school term,
notwithstanding the constitutional requirement for uniformity. Any at-tempt
to operate an even school term on a flat tax rate must fail, because
these two limitations are directly antagonistic. When one goes up, the other
must go down.
The General Assembly of 1885 tried to remedy this inequality by authoriz-ing,
empowering and directing the commissioners in each and every county
to levy an additional special tax over and above the 66% cent limitation, in
an amount sufficient to operate all the schools in the county for four months.
6 Report of Superintendent op Public Instruction
The Barksdale Case. A taxpayer by the name of Barksdale in Sampson
County resisted the tax. The case came to the supreme court for adjudica-tion.
A divided court rendered a decision that the special tax to support
the four months school term was in violation of the taxing clause in the
Constitution and, therefore, could not be levied. That left us with a flat
tax rate, but an unequal school term. In 1899 the General Assembly made
another effort. It appropriated directly out of the State treasury to the
public schools the annual sum of $100,000 to be distributed on the per capita
basis. This was intended to increase the supporting ability of each county
and in that way to lengthen the term. It helped, of course, but it was not
sufiicient to bring about the desii'ed results. In 1901, at the very beginning
of the administration of Governor Aycock, the General Assembly introduced
into the law a new and vital principle of school support. It set up the first
Equalization Fund. It left standing, as a continuing appropriation, the
first hundred thousand dollars which was to be distributed on the per capita
basis to increase the general financial strength of each county. In addition
thereto, there was appropriated in 1901 out of the general treasury of the
State a second hundred thousand dollars annually which was to be so distrib-uted
as to bring the school term in every district, as nearly as might be, up
to the four months specified in the Constitution. The first equalizing fund
was set up to equalize the school term, and not the tax rate; because there
was an even or flat tax rate in all the counties alike. This appropriation
helped greatly, but it still was not sufficient to provide a uniform minimum
term.
A New Interpretation, In 1907, twenty-two years after the first unsuc-cessful
attempt, the General Assembly, in a further effort to bring about
an even school term, again authorized, empowered and directed the county
commissioners in each and every county, in almost the identical language
used in 1895, to levy a sufficient additional special school tax to bring the
term in each of the several districts of the State up to four months. This
time a taxpayer by the name of Collie in Franklin County resisted the levy.
Again the whole question of a uniform school term, de novo, was placed
before the supreme court. The situation was the same as in 1885. The
lines of argument were identical. In the meantime, however, the ideas of
the people had widened into a broader conception of the place and meaning of
public education in our civilization. Supporting sentiment had strengthened.
Liberalized attitudes had prevailed. In the light of the new conditions the
court reversed itself. The powerful dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice
Merriman, delivered in 1885, became the law of the land. Article IX of the
Constitution was sustained in toto, irrespective of all other considerations.
The act of the legislature was held to be obligatory on the commissioners.
The struggle which had lasted for thirty-one years was at an end. The
uniform school term was set up. The battle was won; victory was achieved.
Thereafter no man offered to renew the conflict.
New Questions. In the solution of this problem, however, as is often the
case, the lines of cleavage in a new and sterner conflict were set. It was
no longer a flat tax rate and an uneven school term. From that time on,
it has been a uniform term supported by scattered tax rates. It is self
evident that a uniform school term, on the same level of efficiency, can not
be operated solely on the basis of county support, since the counties vary
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 7
so greatly among themselves in their ability to pay taxes. Two conflicting
standards of uniformity can not be applied at the same time. When one is
made effective, the other goes askew. Since 1907, we have been struggling
with unequal tax rates among the several counties. In 1930, after twenty-three
years of effort, it is still the paramount school issue in North Carolina.
At first it seemed a comparatively simple problem. School costs were
low. The spread in values among the counties was not so great as at
present. The people were content with a meager school program. The
wealth of the State was increasing as rapidly as the costs were going up.
It looked as if the school question might have been settled.
Then two new factors entered which have thrown all calculations out of
line. First, through power development and industrial growth, some coun-ties
increased their taxable wealth by leaps and bounds, while other counties
stood still, advanced at a slower rate, or, even in some instances went back-ward.
This change in relative taxing power, of course, caused a greater
spread in the tax rates necessary to support the constitutional term, and
served as the basis of a demand for a greater equalizing fund.
Then, at the close of the World War, with rising costs in every field of
endeavor, and with an insistent demand on the part of the people for better
school facilities, school costs mounted rapidly. Tax rates spread more
rapidly than school costs increased. Suppose we compare two counties of
unequal wealth. In one, there is $1,000 of taxable wealth behind each
child; in the other $3,000. If a thirty cent tax is levied in each county, the
first will have $3.00 per child, and the second will have $9.00 per child for
educational purposes. If the State places $6.00 per child in the first county
we shall have complete equalization, and each will have the same amount to
spend on each child. Now, suppose the cost of education should double in
each county and require $18.00 per child before the State gives further aid.
The first county, in order to raise its $12.00 by taxation on its own resources,
would levy $1.20 on the hundred dollars of valuation. The second county
could secure its $12.00 by a 60 cent tax on the hundred. While the costs
have doubled, the rate in the first county has been multiplied by four and
in the second county by two. The spread in rates between the counties has
been more rapid than the increase in cost.
In a further substantiation of this principle, the total cost of education
since 1920 has been multiplied approximately by three, and the equalization
fund by six. The spread in value and the increased cost has made im-perative
greater contributions on the part of the State. What was at
first conceived to be purely a county problem, has come to be one of the
most staggering questions of State finance. For twenty-five years we tried
to reach a solution under the conception that we were dealing with a primary
county responsibility. For the last quarter of a century, more and more,
it has come to be considered fundamentally as a State obligation—with
joint county and State support.
Further Complications. May we, for just a moment, look backward over
the road which we have just traveled in order to take note of a few ad-ditional
and complicating factors? In the very first school law enacted
under the authority of the Constitution of 1876, permission was given to
certain cities, subject of course to a vote of the people, to levy a special
8 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
tax, not in excess, however, of ten cents on the hundred dollars worth of
taxable property, in order that they might improve the school facilities in
those cities. The entire financial responsibility for the operation of these
schools, aside from the money they were to receive for the four months
fund, was to rest squarely upon the shoulders of the cities themselves. No
such taxes could be levied except upon a vote of the people. In return for
the willingness of the city to support its own school program, the General
Assembly placed the control of such schools in the hands of a local board
of trustees to be selected in accordance with the provisions of the charter.
In this way, the type of organization known as special charter schools arose.
At first these permissions were given rather grudingly. The interests
of the taxpayers were protected by a limitation on the rate which could be
levied for this purpose. The limit was first fixed at ten cents on the hun-dred
dollars worth of property. This limit was later raised to twenty
cents, then to thirty cents, and finally to fifty cents where it now stands.
The people responded to this opportunity, and by 1900 every city and town
was operating a good system of graded schools. What took place in North
Carolina during this period is typical of the general lines of development in
all parts of the country. City populations everywhere have been and still
are the leaders in progressive educational thought and enterprize. From
them have come the demands for state systems of schools. They are con-tinually
pressing forward in the front line of progress. Their example has
been a continuing inspiration to the rest of the people.
About 1900, the people living in the rural territory became very much
interested in the education of their children. They were confronted with
the alternative of moving to town or of building up their own schools. They
began to seek permission to vote local taxes. They went through exactly
the same graduated scale of limitations as the cities: first, ten cents, then
twenty, then thirty, and finally fifty, where the limit now stands.
In 1903, a great educational campaign was launched in North Carolina to
encourage the people to vote these taxes. No other plan of school support
was at that time practical or possible. It was the sole way open for the
development of rural education. It rests upon the doctrine of self determina-tion
and self sufficiency. It appealed to local pride; it encouraged local
initiative. It went through on a crest of enthusiasm created by the
spontaneous rivalry between local communities. The school district as-sumed
complete responsibility for the financial support of such improved
school facilities as its means would justify. In fact, it has been the under-standing
through all the years, and is still the accepted belief by some,
that no levy for a term longer than the constitutional term could be made,
except upon the consent of a majority of the qualified voters in that ter-ritory.
By a process of voting through the years these taxes have been
imposed on about seven-eighths of the wealth of the State.
At the beginning the tax was on a small district. Then came the idea
of a larger district. Concurrent with the advent of good roads, we had the
movement for the consolidation of schools and the transportation of chil-dren.
This made necessary the erection of a larger and more permanent
type of building. Out of all this came the possibility of the rural high
school. This opportunity is now extended to practically all the white chil-dren
of the State.
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 9
At the beginning of the four months term there was no serious thought
on the part of any one that the constitutional term would raise the question
of State support. Each county was to carry its own load. Changed condi-tions
as we have seen, however, made State aid in large amounts imperative.
In precisely the same way, the local tax movement has laid another obliga-tion
in the lap of the State. We find here almost parallel lines of develop-ment.
In 1907, for instance, there was a State appropriation for the sup-port
of the rural high school which was half as large as the equalizing fund
at that time. In 1921, the amount of this fund was more than doubled. In
the same year also, there was begun a series of special building funds which
made possible the magnificent school buildings which you see by every road
side. In 1923, there was an authorization for the county, under certain
conditions, to use the fines and forfeitures in support of these big schools.
In 1925, the counties were authorized to take over the carrying charges on
such buildings as were necessary for the operation of the constitutional
term, thereby relieving the district of these obligations and making possible
their continuance.
These schools grew rapidly. Many children re-entered school. The high
school population increased; better teachers were employed; school costs
went up. The revenue for support was restricted to the amount which
could be raised within the limit of fifty cents fixed by the General Assembly.
The basic supporting property in many instances declined rapidly in value.
Caught between the two dilemmas of ever increasing school costs and de-creasing
revenue, many of them, by 1929, found themselves in a state of
bankruptcy and ready for the appointment of receivers. Upon the recom-mendation
and insistence of Governor Gardner, the State came to their
rescue in a magnificent way and provided for them a tax reduction fund of
$1,250,000. Thus, the schools, which the people had built for themselves
with such enthusiasm and at such sacrifice, were saved to the people and
placed upon a firm financial basis. These two parallel developments bring
us to the total present situation.
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The Total School Situatio?^ What then is the total school situation in
North Carolina today. First, we have two school terms; one of them em-bedded
in the Constitution, and supported jointly by the State and county
under one set of laws; the other resting upon a vote of the people in the
district and operated upon the authority of an entirely different set of lav/s
and supported jointly by the local taxes and the State Tax Reduction Fund.
These terms are two distinct entities, resting upon different laws and fi-nanced
from different sources of support. They sometimes touch each other
but are never united. The constitutional term is level. It is operated for
six months in every district, but the supporting ad valorem tax rates in
the several counties are still uneven. In the other field, both the term and
the rates present ragged edges. From the standpoint of united school
finance and a uniform school term, we are confronted with all the vexing
complexities of the past in aggravated and cumulative form.
1. Economy in Consolidation of Terms. The machinery set up for the op-eration
of the public schools in North Carolina is both cumbersome and
10 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
wasteful, and well nigh obsolete. It was made to fit conditions as they were
ten years ago when only a few schools, outside of the special charter dis-tricts,
were in session longer than six months. Conditions have changed and
new machinery must be devised in order to place them on a business like
basis.
Some of the administrative difficulties in dealing with a situation such as
this will be stated briefly. The difference in length of term makes it very
difficult to get children into groups where they can be taught efficiently and
economically. With the increased teaching load there are many vacant
rooms. Around these larger buildings are small one and two-teacher schools
which could be brought in. The district line prevents. Small high schodls
are operated in a close proximity. They can not be brought together on
account of the impassable district lines. Two trucks run along the same
highway, picking up children on different sides of the highway, because the
road is the line between districts. Trucks drive up in sight of cities and
haul children to distant schools. The different lengths of term and the
solidified district oft'ers an unwieldly and costly administrative machine.
If the terms could be consolidated up to a minimum of eight months, great
savings could be accomplished through the reorganization of the intructional
group. Some of these might be stated as follows:
a. It would place the county board of education in a position to eliminate
very rapidly the remaining small elementary schools.
b. It would place the county board of education in a position to eliminate
many small high schools.
c. Children could be shifted from one school to another merely by turn-ing
a truck around, and thus prevent over crowding and avoid the employ-ment
of additional teachers.
d. Teachers could more easily be moved from one school to another with
shifts in population or enrollment.
e. Tuition charges as between rural districts could be eliminated.
f. The narrow gap between the rural school and the city school of one
month could be briged with public funds, and thus provide a system of free
schools.
g. A great deal of the waste by re-teaching non promoted children could
be avoided.
h. It would not only provide for economy during the first year, but its
effect would extend through all the years on account of more rapid promo-tion.
i. Most of the petty annoyances about schools, which often result in
neighborhood rows, would be eliminated.
If the tax payers are to continue to put up $30,000,000 a year to operate
the schools and to pay the carrying charges on the buildings, every possible
effort should be made to operate them economically and to make them free
to all the children.
2. Economy in Centralized Financial Control. The consolidation of all
the different operating funds in a county would make possible many econ-omies,
and the total of such savings over the State would amount to many
thousand dollars.
At present, there are often in one county fifteen or twenty spending
agencies—all determining how public money shall be spent. There is no
one agency responsible in a county for financial control. If all the funds
for the operation of the schools in a county could be consolidated into one
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 11
fund—all the money from the State and all the money raised from local
resources spent by one responsible agency—real business administration
could be introduced into the operation of the schools. Such a task would ap-peal
to the best business interests of the county and the very finest and
most capable business men would be glad to serve on county boards of
education. Some of the business principles that could be introduced might
be stated as follows:
a. Provide for only one responsible spending agency.
b. Provide concentrated financial control and thereby effect many
economies.
c. Provide an agency to regulate supplementary salaries.
d. Provide an agency to regulate the employment of additional teachers.
Through these agencies and the economies which they could accomplish,
it is believed that the consolidated school term could be operated for less
money than is now spent for the operation of our present system with its
imeven lengths of term and impassable district lines. Furthei'more, such
a centralized financial control would make possible a degree of flexibility
which would enable the system to adjust expenditures to times of stringency.
3. Economy In Administration. Are the administrative costs too high
in North Carolina ? If one should hold to the opinion that costs are too
high, an examination of the evidence would lead him to the conclusion that
the excess, if any, is due to the number of administrative units rather than
to the amount of salary paid in individual cases.
How large should an administrative unit be? Of course, the answer to
this question is dependent upon geographical lines among the political sub-divisions
of the State, and upon the natural grouping of the population. It
would be manifestly impossible to lay the State off in units of the same size
and shape. Perhaps no one knows exactly how large these units should be.
Some hold to the opinion that a school system with fewer than five thou-sand
pupils is difficult to administer on an economical basis. Good roads
have changed all our customs. The whole situation is new. Governmental
agencies should be reorganized from time to time to fit into new conditions
as they arise.
In this State there are 195 separate and independent adminstrative school
units, 100 county systems and 95 charter systems within the counties, be-sides
a great number of special tax districts which have many independent
privileges. The counties vary in size from 17,150 pupils enrolled in John-ston
County to 1,446 in Dare County. Charlotte represents the largest
unit among the cities with an enrollment of 16,387. The smallest charter
school is Dobbersville with 88 pupils. The average size of all systems is
4,446.
The following table shows the grouping of these systems according to
size
:
Number of Units Size Limits
22 Above 10,000 pupils
17 8,000-10,000 pupils
19 6,000- 8,000 pupils
27 4,000- 6,000 pupils
37 2,000- 4,000 pupils
34 1,000- 2,000 pupils
39 Below 1,000 pupils
12 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The combined enrollment in the fifteen city systems with from 1,000 to
1,500 pupils is 18,039. They pay a total of $48,320 for the salaries of super-intendents,
or an average of $2.68 for each child enrolled. The average for
county units is less than 50 cents per pupil. If all of these fifteen were
combined, they would make a system about the size of Robeson County.
If the schools with fewer than 2,000 pupils now operating under special
charters should come into the several county systems, there would remain
only 129 systems of schools in the State as opposed to the 195 as at present.
Under this supposition the systems would arrange themselves as follows:
Number of Systems Size Limits
27 Above 10,000 pupils
16 8,000-10,000 pupils
21 6,000- 8,000 pupils
26 4,000- 6,000 pupils
32 2,000- 4,000 pupils
7 1,000- 2,000 pupils
The 129 systems would have a total enrollment of 866,939 or an average
size of 6,720 pupils.
There are many potent reasons, of course, which would suggest the ad-visability
of the larger places remaining under their charters as at present.
They have been the leaders in education. They promise a richer program
of activities than the surrounding territory seems to desire at this time.
Much of North Carolina's economic progress is due to the excellent educa-tional
systems which the cities have maintained for many years, largely at
their own expense. The charter lines have served a good purpose, because
they segrated the property of people who were willing to tax themselves for
school improvement. They taught us what good schools could do for a
people. For sixty years they have been at the head of the procession.
No one desires to limit in any way the educational opportunity which they
now offer, but the effort is to bring an equal opportunity to all the people
as rapidly as possible.
Since these charters were begun the whole school situation has changed.
At that time the thought was to build a school on every hill top, and within
walking distance of all the children. No thought was taken of instructional
grouping. A few children could be taught better than a large number.
With good roads has come the consolidation movement. The effect now
is to get children into large instructional groups which necessitates a great
deal of transportation. Transportation has come to be very expensive. As
many children as possible should still walk to school. The special charter
district in small places, on account of its impassable lines, has come now, in
some instances, for the first time in our history, on account of new condi-tions,
to be a hindrance to educational progress and to bring additional and
unnecessary expense to the county and to the State. Every hard and fast
district line, whether it surrounds a special charter or a special tax district,
lays an additional burden on the tax paying public. Either these district
lines should be eliminated or some way should be found to get across them.
Many county systems are also too small for efficient and economical ad-ministration.
It would take eight of the smallest to make a unit as large
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 13
as Charlotte. Without in any way affecting the county government or in-terfering
with the control of the budget by the commissioners or the ad-ministration
of the budget by the county board of education, one adminis-trative
unit might be set up jointly by two or more counties. Every time
such a union is formed, money can be saved for the tax payer.
The enlargement of administrative units, in my opinion, would add greatly
to the efficiency of the public school system, and make it possible to do the
administrative work with the expenditure of many fewer dollars. The re-duction
in the number of systems would facilitate the introduction of
business principles into the operation of the schools. The reconstruction
of the administrative machinery along many lines is necessary if the
schools are to be operated along the lines of sound economy.
4. Equalization Fund. This fund as a twofold purpose:
a. The equalization, as nearly as may be, of the county tax rates levied
for the operation of the six months school term.
b. The equalization, as neaiiy as may be, of the educational opportunity
among the children in the several counties of the State.
The administration of this fund at the present time is more nearly meet-ing
its twofold purpose than at any time in the past. The weaker counties
are rapidly strengthening their school systems, and tax rates are also ap-proaching
a level.
I should like to suggest two ways in which the administration of this
fund can bring us a little closer to even tax rates and also a little closer
to equalized educational opportunity,
1. State participation in all the necessary current operating expenses
of the six months school term. At present the State participates in only
a part of the necessary operating expenses of the six months school term.
Conditions change from year to year. The population in some counties in-creases
more rapidly than in others. Wealth also increases more rapidly in
some counties than in others. All of these changes which are taking place
constantly tend to throw the tax rates out of line. The total State budget,
however, increases from year to year on account of the growth in school
population, and improvement in the kind of schools operated. The four
elements causing most of this increase are as follows:
a. The employment of a higher grade of teachers each year. The
average training of teachers increases approximately, one-fourth of a col-lege
year for each school year.
b. The employment of additional teachers on account of increased at-tendance.
Sometimes it is necessary to take care of an increase of 25,000
or more children in one year.
c. The increase in the enrollment in high schools in which instruction is
approximately two and one-half times as expensive as in the elementary
schools.
d. The increment on the State salary schedule.
Contrary to the belief of many, the State Budget does not include any
supplementary salaries, nor does it include the salaries of any so-called
extra teachers. The State budget is made up of the salaries actually paid
when not in excess of the State schedule and the number of teachers al-lowed.
Extra teachei-s and supplementary salaries serve to raise the local
14 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
tax rates and do not affect the State budget. Por the school year 1929-30
there was a wide spread between the State budget approved on June 1,
1929, and the May budget approved by the county commissioners during the
summer of 1929. The totals of these two budgets and the difference be-tween
them are shown below:
May budget—100 counties, 1929-30 $20,316,683.77
State budget—100 counties, 1929-30 15,530,827.85
Difference $ 4,785,855.92
The county commissioners in order to have authority to levy the tax,
must find as a fact that the items in the May budget are necessary for the
operation of the six months school term. The entire difference between
these two budgets must be raised by an ad valorem tax on the property in
the several counties. This, of course, causes a considerable spread between
the participating tax rate and the actual tax rate levied in the county. The
following table shows this spread in tax rates for three years:
Average Participating
Year Actual Rate Rate Difference
1927-28 53.76 40 .1376
1928-29 56.78 40 .1678
1929-30 49.8 30 .198
Looking at this table it seems to me that the proper attack for the re-duction
of tax rates is to devise some way of biinging the 49.8 cents actual
tax rate necessary to be levied a little closer to the 30 cent participating
rate. As the State budget is now made up, it does not take into considera-tion
the increment on teachers' salaries nor the full number of additional
teachers made necessary by increased attendance. Also current expenses
other than teachers salaries and transportation represent, in highly or-ganized
counties, a much larger percentage than the ten per cent allowed
in the budget. Under the present practice the county carries these items
which represent an increase in the county tax rates. County tax rates are
also increased by the employment of additional teachers and by supple-mentary
salaries, although there is very little supplement now included in
the six months county budget in a participating county. The necessary op-erating
costs mentioned above represent approximately one-half of the dif-ference
between the State budgets and the county budgets. The rest of the
difference is made up of items of expenditure determined upon by the coun-ties
for the improvement of the schools in the several counties.
Perhaps this spread in tax rates is not a fair test of the relative school
expenditures as among the counties. So many different elements enter the
budget in the several counties from year to year that the tax rate does
not run even in the same county. Any increase in the equalization fund
could be used in either one of two ways:
a. To expand the State budget to include more nearly all of the necessary
current operating cost of the six months school term.
b. To reduce the participating tax level, or there might be a combina-tion
of both of these effects.
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 15
2. State participation in all the necessary current operating expenses of
the six months school term on the basis of the current year's business. At
present the State, in making up the amount in each county in which it will
participate, looks backward to last year's business. The county commis-sioners
of necessity in approving the May budget must look forward to the
business of the current year. In my opinion, both the State and the county
should sit down together and face the business of the current yeai*, and
agree upon the amount of State participation that would be fair and
equitable among all the counties. In order to do this, the State Board of
Equalization would necessarily need some discretionary power which it
does not now possess in dealing with the question of State participation
on the current year's business. The introduction of these two principles to
a fuller extent in the distribution of the equalization fund would tend rap-idly
to bring the participating tax rate and the actual tax rate more closely
together, thereby securing more nearly equalized tax rates among the
counties.
The action of the last General Assembly in giving definite and specific
aid to transportation tended to equalize the tax rate among the several
counties. Counties which are highly organized reduce the number of
teachers employed and thereby reduce the instructional cost. In order to do
this, however, transportation is necessary. The last General Assembly
recognized this principle and gave very definite aid. There should be, in
my opinion, however, a little more margin to take care of strictly rural
counties which are highly organized. The fifteen per cent limitation works
a hardship on strictly rural counties that are highly organized and trans-port
a large percentage of their children even when credited with only
$8.00 per pupil for transportation. In order to make this clear let us
compare, for instance, Wake and Caswell Counties.
Wake County. In Wake County the salary costs, including Raleigh,
amount to $398,902.07. The fifteen per cent limitation is $59,835.00. At
$8 00 per pupil the cost of transportation in Wake County is only $35,944.00.
There is a margin here of almost $24,000 due to the fact that Raleigh is
located in this county. If in Wake County we consider only the rural sal-aries
which amount to $229,706.84, fifteen per cent of the rural salaries
would allow only $34,456.60 for transportation in this county, and Wake
County would be caught by this limitation to the extent of $1,487,40.
Caswell County. In Caswell County, strictly rural territory, the salary
costs amount to $66,198.16. The fifteen per cent limitation is $9,929.00.
The transportation costs in Caswell County at $8.00 per pupil are $13,976.00
;
that is, Caswell County, due to this limitation, must gay out of its own
resources $4,047 of its transportation costs even when estimated at $8.00
per pupil.
There are eleven other counties that are caught to a greater or lesser
extent. There should be some adjustment in this fifteen per cent limita-tion
so that strictly rural counties would not have to bear alone so much of
their transportation costs when estimated at $8.00 per pupil for the average
number of children transported one and one-half miles or more.
The estimates for the equalization needs for the next biennium are omit-ted
from this report because they will probably be included in the report of
16 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
the Educational Commission. It is better to have the sound judgment of the
members of this Commission expressed in these estimates than for me to
make them alone.
The recommendations contained in this report might be summarized as
follows:
a. The consideration of the number of administrative units.
b. The consideration of the question of consolidated school terms.
c. The consideration of the question of centralizing financial control.
d. The consideration of the question of adjustments in the matter of
the distribution of the equalization fund and the increase in this fund.
CHAPTER II.
A RECORD OF GROWTH
GENERAL STATISTICS
A review of the annual school statistics for the past several years will
disclose the fact that there are certain fundamental problems of education
which have not been solved. It will be further observed, however, that
considerable progress has been made towards the solution of some of these
problems. It is the purpose of this chapter to set forth briefly and in sum-mary
form some of these changes as measured objectively.
School Enrollment and Attendance. The number of children going to
school shows an increase. At the close of the biennium, 1929-30, there were
866,939 pupils enrolled in the public schools. This State has the second
largest number of pupils enrolled in the public schools below college level in
the South, being surpassed only by Texas.
For 1900-1901, 1919-1920, and the past several years the public school
enrollment for the State has been as follows:
Table I. School Enrollment and Attendance
A. Enrollment
Year
1900-1901
1919-1920
1924-1925
1925-1926
1926-1927
1927-1928
1928-1929
1929-1930
Rural
White
290,178
374,210
421,134
427,745
425,863
437,685
441,979
445 , 325
Colored
141,180
172,739
191,736
196,014
189,625
196,041
193,558
190,817
Charter
White
103,979
138,262
136,369
145,193
149,012
153,768
162,019
Colored
40,321
58,702
58,611
63,470
66,040
66,577
68,778
Total
431,358
691,249
809 , 834
818,793
824,151
848,778
855 , 882
866,939
18 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
According to the United States Office of Education 29 per cent of the
total population of the State are enrolled in public schools, and in this
respect ranks second among the states of the nation, exceeded only by
Mississippi.
Children between the ages of six and twenty-one now number more
than a million, and 84 of each 100 of these are now actually enrolled in
the public elementary and high schols, whereas at the beginning of the
century only 65 of each 100 children of school age attended the public
schools.
In like manner, the margin between school enrollment and average daily
attendance is not now as great as it was in former years.
Reference to the following table will show the improvement for the State
in these items:
Table II. School Population and Attendance
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 19
The improvement for the State made within the past several years is
shown as follows:
Table III.
20 Report of Superintendent op Public Instruction
As this table shows the number of white children having the advantage of
schools operating eight months or more has increased from 282,788, or
53.3 per cent of the total white enrollment, in 1922-1923 to 500,880 or 82.5
per cent of the total white pupils enrolled in 1929-1930. The number of
colored pupils in school having long terms has increased from 57,760 in
1922-1923 to 99,164 in 1929-1930, or from 24.2 per cent to 38.2 per cent.
There are 259,496 more children in schools having terms of eight months
or longer than there were in 1922-1923. Of the total 866,939 children en-rolled
in the public schools, 600,044 or 69.2 per cent have the advantage of
schools which operate eight months or more during the year.
Enrollment in Short Term Schools. The number of children enrolled in
schools operating less than an eight months term tends to decrease. In
1922-1923 there were 247,984 white and 181,384 colored children in short
term schools, mostly six months. In 1929-1930, the latest year for which
figures are available, 106,464 white children and 160,431 colored children,
nearly all of whom were in rural districts, attended short term schools.
The following table shows the number and percentage for the past several
years
:
Table V. Enrollment in Schools Having Terms of Less Than Eight
Months
White
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 21
teacher schools alone, whereas today there are only 2,111 schools of this
size. The records show that all the small schools are decreasing very
rapidly. For a few selected years these facts are given below:
Table VI. Small Schools
Year
22 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table VIII. Public Transportation of Pupils
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 23
Capital Outlay. The amounts expended for capital outlay purposes varies
from year to year, as the following tables shows:
Table XI. Capital Outlay Expenditures
Year
24 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The Chart. The chart presented on this page shows graphically
the growth in school expenditures during the past decade, and the propor-tions
expended for current and capital outlay purposes.
STANDARD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
In the past few years throughout the State there has been a wide-spread
realization of the vital importance of the elmentary school as the founda-tion
of our educational life. This desire to give the children a more effec-tive
opportunity for the fimdamentals of an education has concerned itself
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 25
with such essential factors as length of term, the size of the school, the
training- of teachers, adequate equipment and an enriched course of study.
Requirements for Standard Schools. In 1924 as a result of this urgent
demand for more effective elementary schools standards were set up which
included the following requirements:
1. A Seven-year Course of Study, with adequate provision for the funda-mentals,
proper emphasis on health and physical education, and the enrich-ment
of the curriculum through courses in music and art.
2. Length of Tei-m—eight months.
3. Number of Teachers—at least seven whole-time teachers.
4. Qualifications of Teachers—all teachers must hold at least Elementary
A certificates. (This represents one year of training beyond high school
graduation).
5. Attendance—at least 205 pupils in average daily attendance.
6. Equipment—to include (a) supplementary reading material, (b)
maps, (c) dictionaries, (d) library of at least 300 volumes, and (e) special
primary equipment.
7. Permanent Records.
8. An Adequate Sanitary Building.
Higher classification is given to schools offering a wider opportunity
—
with a nine-months term; eight or more teachers, the majority of whom
have had at least two years of training; and a library of 500 to 700 volumes.
Progress in Meeting the Standards. In the fall of 1924 the work of visit-ing
the schools and applying these standards was begun. At that time
there were 270 rural schools which had seven or more teachers and an eight-months
school term. Today there are 448 rural schools which meet these
two requirements. In Table XII is shown the progress made in the past
six years in providing these two essential items for carrying on a seven-year
course of study: (1) a term of at least eight months, and (2) a
school of sufficient size to employ at least seven teachers.
Table XIII shows that real progress has been made each year in employ-ing
better training teachers. In 1924 there were only 62 large rural schools
in which all teachers had at least one year of college or normal training,
but this year, 1929-1930, we find that 406 rural schools employ teachers with
the required training.
Table XIV gives the number of schools each year meeting all requirements
for standard schools. This table shows that in 1924 there were only 26 rural
schools and 30 special charter schools which were classified as standard
schools, but so effective have been the efforts of the people throughout the
State to build up strong schools that today there are 243 rural schools
which are standard and 147 special charter schools, making a total of 390
standard elementary schools in the State. Many of the special charter
schools have manifest their deep interest in providing a more effective op-portunity
for the children in the elementary school as shown by the in-crease
each year in standard schools in the cities. The 147 special charter
standard schools include six Negro schools. Interest in the work is grow-ing
in many Negro schools, and efforts are being put forth to make the
needed improvements but lack of financial aid is the most serious handicap.
26 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XII. Number of Schools Having Seven or More Teachers and
At Least An Eight-Months Term
Year
Report op Superintendent of Public Instruction 27
Table XV. Per Cent of Total White Elementary School Enrollment
in Standard Elementary Schools for the Year 1929-30.
28 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XVII. Per Cent of White Public School Enrollment
IN High Schools
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 29
Table XIX. Per Cent High School Enrollment is of Total By Race
1929-30
•
30 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Enriched Instruction. Table XXII shows the rapid elimination of the
small type high school. While there are still too many small high schools,
the tendency seems to be in the direction of eliminating the small high
schools by further consolidation. The average number of teachers per high
school is now 5.38, 95.73 per cent of the pupils are enrolled in high schools
with three or more teachers and 50.14 per cent are enrolled in high schools
with more than six teachers. This makes possible in many of the schools
a broadened and enriched cun-iculum.
Table XXII. Distribution By Size of Schools—White Public Schools
1929-30
Size of
School by
Number of
Teachers
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 31
Table XXIII. Growth of Accredited High Schools, 1929-30
32 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
knows the laws of physical growth, mental and moral development, unless
she recognizes the relations of the curriculum to the life of the child and
to the world about him, unless she understands the activities that are
conducive to child development, unless she comprehends the aims and ob-jectives
of public education, her work in a modern school will be ineffective.
For these reasons, greater stress than ever before must be placed upon the
teacher's personal character, upon her scholastic accomplishments, and upon
her sympathetic attitude toward childhood. Many elements enter into the
operation of a good school, but the most vital element in this structure is
a teacher of unquestioned power and ability.
The people of North Carolina are rapidly coming to recognize these facts
and each year they are demanding teachers of more satisfactory training.
Growth In Number of Teachers. Table XXV shows the growth in num-ber
of teachers over a period of time, from 1899-1900 to 1928-1929, for each
of the races and according to rural and city schools. This growth has been
significant but no greater than was necessary to take care of the increased
enrollment in the public schools.
Table XXV. Number of Public School Teachers
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 33
Table XXVI. Number of Teachers By Certificates Held, 1921-22 and
1929-30
Certificates
County
Provisional B
Provisional A
Temporary
Provisional Elementary
Elementary B
Elementary A
Provisional Primary and Grammar Grade
.
Primary and Grammar Grade C
Primary and Grammar Grade B
Primary and Grammar Grade A
Elementary Principal
High School C
High School B
High School A
High School Principal
Supervisor
Superintendent*
Special
Total Number
.
Standard
Non-Standard
.
Total Per Cent
.
Standard
Non-Standard .
.
White
1921-1922
1,504
617
673
93
560
4,963
887
2,111
654
536
548
234
867
718
39
134
116
15,254
12,367
2,887
100.00
81.05
18.95
1929-1930
43
6
36
1,236
2,571
64
2,260
2,795
2,389
64
280
598
4,084
631
28
259
17,599
17,504
85
100.00
89.51
0.49
Colored
1921-1922
1,567
350
342
47
168
1,342
68
475
24
10
44
14
21
55
5
1
21
4,544
2,248
2,306
100.00
49.34
50.66
1929-1930
431
3
31
554
1,251
1,067
640
965
181
5
110
209
449
82
5
4
5,987
4,968
1,019
100.00
83.00
17.00
*Teachers or principals who hold superintendent's certificates.
The County, Provisional B, Provisional A and One Year Temporary
Certificates represent training less than equivalent of standard high school
graduation. It may be observed that in 1921-1922, 2887 or 18.95 per cent
of the white teachers did not have training representing high school grad-uation.
In 1929-1930 only 85 or 0.49 per cent of the total number of white
teachers had such limited training. In 1921-1922, from a total of 4544
colored teachers 2248 or 50.66 per cent had not had training represented
by high school graduation. For 1929-1930, from a total of 5987, only 1019
or 17.08 per cent had had such meager training. It is vei'y evident that dur-ing
this eight year period commendable progress has been made in improv-ing
the scholarship of the teachers.
In-service Training. For many years the emphasis in North Carolina
has been placed on the effort to offer training to the teachers in service.
At first teachers were required to attend institutes. In 1919 a system of
county summer schools was organized in an effort to raise the general level
of training. These efforts were appropriate and essential, because at that
time many thousand teachers were not even high school graduates. After
34 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
three or four years of county summer school work the number of high
school graduates increased to such an extent that it was no longer necessary
to admit those to the teaching profession who were not at least high school
graduates. There no longer existed a need for county summer schools, and
for the white teachers they were discontinued in 1925.
At the present time the chief agencies contributing to the program of in-service
training are the approved summer schools conducted by certain in-stitutions
of higher learning, and extension service which a few institu-tions
provide. The extension work consists of class teaching and corres-pondence
study instruction. The tables which follow show the attendance
of teachers at summer school and their enrollment in extension work.
Table XXVII. Summer School Attendance
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 35
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION
The improvement of classroom instruction is now one of the outstanding
needs of our rural elementary schools. This need is being met, so far as
practicable, in the white schools, through the Division of Elementary In-struction,
working in cooperation with county superintendents, principals
and teachers not only in counties without rural school supervision, but also
in counties with supervision.
General Nature and Scope of Work. Broadly stated, the work of the
Division in helping to improve classroom teaching is along the following
main lines:
1. Aiding county school officials in providing the most favorable condi-tion
practicable for good classroom instruction by helping them in working
out and in putting into operation an economic and an adequate plan for the
county-wide consolidation of schools.
2. Aiding the county superintendent in the professional improvement of
his teachers in service: through county teachers' meetings; through in-dividual
and group conferences with his teachers; through the getting out
of bulletins on various subjects in the common school branches; through
carefully worked out suggestions for a better adaptation of the State Course
of Study to the everyday needs of the pupils; and through definitely sug-gested
professional study for his teaching force.
3. Aiding the county superintendent and his teachers in better organiza-tion
of the schools, better gradation and classification of the pupils within
the school and more efficient teaching of the common school subjects,
through personal visitation with county superintendent to his individual
schools, and through follow-up conferences with the teachers whose work
has been observed.
Working With Rural Elementary School Supervisors. Recognizing that
effective supervision is a direct and vital agency for the improvement of
classroom instruction, the State, in counties participating in the Equaliza-tion
Fund, is encouraging county boards of education in the employment of
adequately trained rural school supervisors to assist the county superintend-ent
in the professional direction of his work by paying a part of their
salary and travelling expenses. For the year 1929-1930, 27 of the 94
counties participating in this fund employed white rural school supervisors,
while 5 of the 6 non-participating counties employed supervisors, paying
the entire amount of their salary and expenses out of county funds.
Therefore, this Division, in addition to working with county superintend-ents,
principals and teachers in non-supervised counties is also working
actively and constructively in those counties employing supervisors.
Table XXIX. Brief Summary of the Work of the Rural School
Supervisors
Total number white rural school supervisors
Distribution of Super\'isor's Time
1. Average number days per week spent by the average super-visor
in visiting schools during school term
2. Total number days spent by the average supervisor in each
school in the county
1927-1928
29
4.2
1928-1929
31
4.0
4.2
1929-1930
32
3 9
4.2
36 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
II. Number and Types of White Rxiral Schools
1
.
Total number
2. Average per county
3. Average number one-teacher schools
4. Average number per county having 7 teachers or more and
running for 8 months term or more
5. Total number standard rural elementary schools
(a) Average per county
III. Number and Training of White Rural Elementary Teachers
1. Total number
(a) Average number per county
2. Per cent of teachers having 4 or more years of college training
.
3. Per cent of teachers with Elementary B Certificates, or lower.
4. Average scholarship indix of supervised teachers
IV. School Enrollment and Daily Attendance
1. Total white rural elementary enrollment
2. Per cent of enrollment in daily attendance
3. Per cent of total rural enrollment in high school
V. Promoting Professional Growth of Teachers in Service Through
Teachers' Meetings and Directed Professional Study.
1. Total number days given by the average supervisor to con-ducting
annual county-wide conferences with teachers before
the opening of schools
2. Total number days given by the average supervisor to
county-wide teachers' meetings during school term
3. Total number days given by average supervisor to group and
grade meetings
4. Total number central schools in the average county having
a teachers' professional library
5. Total number professional books read during the year by
the average supervised teacher
6. Total principals' meetings conducted in average county
VI. Promoting Professional Growth of Teachers Through Classroom
Visitation and Directed Larger Unit Teaching
1. Per cent of classrooms visited one or more times
2. Per cent of classrooms visited two or more times
3. Per cent of classrooms visited three or more times
4. Average number schools per county doing larger unit teaching.
VII. Promoting Professional Growth of Teachers Through Individual
and Group Conferences and Through Demonstration Teaching
1. Total number individual and group conferences conducted
with teachers and principals in classrooms and county office
.
2. Total number conducted by the average supervisor
3. Total number demonstration lessons taught by supervisors
for their teachers
4
.
Total demonstration lessons taught by the average supervisor
VIII. Provisons for a Normal Pupil Start
1. Total pre-school enrollment
2. Total pre-school enrollment in the average county
3. Total pre-school enrollment given physical examinations. . . .
4. Total pre-school enrollment in the average county given
physical examinations
IX. Promoting Pupil Growth Through Literary Societies, Health
Clubs, and Coiirses in Music Appreciation
1. Total schools in average county having literary societies. . .
.
2. Total literary contests in the average county
1927-1928
Report op Superintendent of Public Instruction 37
1927-1928
38 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
instruction is proving to be both an educational value to the children and
an economic value to the people who pay the bill.
It has been shown by facts that at the end of a three-year period of
efficient supervision of classroom instruction that the fourth grade pupils
in the counties tested were reading and working arithmetic better than were
the fifth grade pupils in these same counties at the beginning of the period
of close supervision. It means that within the three-year period of con-stant
and expert supervision the pupils in these counties gained approxi-mately
one whole year in their mastery of the subject of reading and arith-metic.
The monetary value to the tax payer has still further been proven by the
fact that for every dollar expended in their county for supervision $8.14
worth of additional instruction was purchased for the pupils.
SCHOOL LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT
The school library continues to grow and become more and more an
integral part of the life of the school, assuming a closer and more intimate
relationship to all its activities. This is no doubt due to modern educa-tional
developments, particularly the movement resulting in the partial
breakdown of subject matter division and complete dependency on the text-took.
The wide awake teacher looks beyond the text book and sees the
need of a large collection of materials,—pamphlets, periodicals, pictures,
newspapers, as well as books. This is being reflected in the collections be-longing
to school libraries. An effort is being made to fill both the course
of study needs and the recreational needs of the children in our schools.
Since one may be better or worse for his reading, the child should leai'n,
through association, books that are worthwhile. This consideration should
control the selection of books placed in the hands of the boys and girls, so
that they shall enjoy the right kind of reading.
Number of Volumes. There are now more than one million books in the
public school libraries of the State. Figures for 1928-1929 show an in-crease
in number of volumes owned of 269,601 books over that of the report
for 1926-1927. Of these books, 732,376 are in rural schools, 420,950 in
charter or city schools. These 1,153,326 volumes of literature, standard
fiction, books of reference and supplementary materials, and other books for
children's reading are shelved in 2,532 public school libraries. With this
large increase, nevertheless, there is an average of only 1.3 books per child
enrolled in the schools of the State. The reading interest of the children
shows these books to be in constant use. One school system shows an
average of books read per pupil in the elementary grades during 1928-29 to
be nearly 40. A high school reports an average circulation of 30.1 books
per pupil enrolled. This shows a conscious effort and desire on the part of
the pupils to broaden their outlook and enliven the textbook guide which
they follow. Keen interest in this activity is evidenced by the fact that
$246,374.85 has been spent for school libraries during 1929-1930. About one
half this amount has been used for elementary school libraries. Figures
for 1929-1930 in regard to these items are not yet available, but tentative
ones indicate an increase. A table showing the growth in number of
volumes ovimed in the rural and city schools of the State and the average
number of volumes per pupil enrolled follows:
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 39
Table XXX. Number and Average Number Per Pupil of Volumes
Owned in School Libraries
Year
40 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
SCHOOLHOUSE BUILDING
The increase in population during the ten years census period of 1920-
1930 brought with it the problem of school housing accommodation to meet
the emergency. The problem was one which both urban and rural com-munities
were called upon to solve.
In 1920 the census showed a population for North Carolina of 2,572,296,
while the 1930 figures give a population of 3,165,144, or a total gain for
the decade of 587,850. The school population for 1928-1929 was 1,013,906,
and for 1929-1930 approximately 1,032,000—a gain of 18,094. The compara-tive
school enrollment for the two years is as follows: 1928-1929, 855,882,
and for 1929-1930 a total of 866,939, making a gain of 11,057.
For this increased enrollment alone it is easy to compute the additional
school room space required to accommodate those who may be counted
upon to enter school. Allowing 36 children to a grade it is seen that 307
class rooms will be necessary, or 31 buildings of ten rooms each, this type
being regarded as of an average capacity.
State Aid. The aid which was given the different counties from the Lit-erary
Loan Fund was of the greatest value, for without it the immediate
need for additional accommodation could not be met. For the school year
1928-1929 the fund provided $294,300 and for 1929-1930, $306,000, making a
grand total of $600,300.
As $30,000 is a reasonable low cost for a ten-room building, including site,
general contract, heating, plumbing and wiring, it is seen that for this
amount twenty such buildings could be erected. This would not, however,
provide for auditorium chairs, desks, laboratory equipment, etc.
However, with the aid of this fund, which has been supplemented and in
many instances duplicated from local sources, the Boards of Education and
County Superintendents have been enabled to carry on a building program
which has gone far toward meeting the emergency which this unprecedented
increased school census has brought about.
A few counties have practically completed their county-wide building pro-grams,
the same being regarded as complete when opportunity is given to
every child to attend with reasonable effort a primary, intermediate and
accredited high school for the period and length of term required.
Value of School Property. While the spirit of progress has prevailed in
matters pertaining to our material and industrial life, so also have rapid
strides been made in providing modern school buildings and the equipment
required in this enlightened age to promote culture and learning and good
citizenship.
The decade which closes with the year 1930 marks an important epoch
in our State's history. It will stand and be known as a school-building
period in which intelligent men and women have realized as never before the
importance and necessity for well-planned, well-built houses, of pleasing
design and placed so as to conveniently serve the community at large.
The following tables show the total per capita appraised value of all
school property at the close of certain selected years:
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 41
Table XXXII. Appraised Value of Public School Property
Year
42 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The main objectives and aims for which this department was started is
to get county superintendents, principals, teachers, communities, and others
to realize the following:
1. That landscaping school grounds is arranging the whole of the school
property so that the best human use may be made of it. Planting trees,
shrubs and flowers is only a part of landscaping.
2. That landscaping should not be considered as extra or unnecessary
work.
3. That landscaping means up-keep of property in which the counties
and the State have invested millions.
4. That in landscaping the property is made more attractive and more
beautiful by planting trees, grass, shrubs and flowers.
5. That interest in this work on the part of the pupils gives them
closer ties and greater appreciation of the school in that it is a better place
to live and to play.
6. That a teacher who fails to realize that the school grounds should be
as attractive as the school room and who fails to instill this idea into the
minds of the children fails that far in rounding out the character of those
who are in his or her charge.
7. That the eff"ect of landscaping may not be felt in the schools alone,
but that the appearance of rural home grounds especilly may be improved as
a result of this work in the school.
8. To get teachers and the community to realize that no woi'k they can
do in their schools makes a greater impression upon the general public, since
our highways bring millions by our door yearly that do not have time to
stop and make a careful study of class room work. But if school grounds
are well planned, well planted and well kept, immediately a good impression
is made. Signs of interest in the school by the community and signs of
prosperity and success are expressed in the school ground which is the
community center.
In keeping with the aims set up in this woi*k, the department has cooper-ated
with the Agricultural Extension Division of State College by giving
lectui'es to county groups of Home Demonstration Clubs, giving instruction
to Home Demonstration Agents in their annual Short Courses and instruct-ing
farm women of the State during the annual Farmers and Women's Short
Course held at North Carolina State College.
Lectures have been given and slides have been shown to other groups of
people interested in civic improvement. In these lectures we have stressed
not only school and home ground improvement, but street and highway im-provement.
Special stress has been placed upon highway and home ground improve-ment
as our part in the Governor's Live-at-Home Movement. For if our
hohies and highways are made more attractive, it will be easier to live hap-pily
in North Carolina, "The Live-at-Home State,"
Report op Superintendent of Public Instruction 43
RURAL HALL, FORSYTH COUNTY
Before Landscaping, Land Rocky and Badly Washed, No Planting.
RURAL HALL, FORSYTH COUNTY
After Landscaping, Yard All in Grass, Shrubbery and Trees Planted, Retaining Wall Built,
Lighting Standards Installed, Foundation Planting Around Building
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
In 1927-1928 the Department through its Division of Information and
Statistics began to promote educational research and to collect information,
annually, regarding educational studies being conducted throughout the
State. In the past three years data involving more than 1,100 separate
educational studies have been collected. Many of these studies represent
coopertive research in which large groups of individuals have participated.
A primary objective has been to stimulate research at the teacher's level—
•
well organized activity programs, projects, big unit studies, experiments,
etc. Study habits inevitably result in economy and increased efficiency in
44 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
public school and institutional administration, and more especially do they
result in improved instruction and enriched educational opportunities for
the boys and girls of North Carolina.
A table showing the increase in number of units reporting and the num-ber
of studies conducted is, herewith, presented. It is believed that im-provement
in the quality of the studies has kept pace, annually, with the
numerical increase.
Table XXXIV. Total Number Education Studies Reported in North
Carolina
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 45
Table XXXV. Certificates Held By Colored Teachers
Class
46 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XXXVI. Improvement of Teachers
School
Year
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 47
elementary teachers. The enrollment in the three state institutions and the
number of departments and enrollment in private institutions are shown
below.
48 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Table XL. Distribution of Colored Enrollment By Grades
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 49
Table XLII. Growth of Public High Schools for Colored Children
Year
50 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
at least: "This is mine and for me." It touches him as an individual. It
recognizes him as a person. He is not merely a part of a great whole; he
is somebody that counts. Public education is no longer something that is
being imposed on him from without and against his will. It is something to
be ardently desired. He no longer sends his child to school at the bidding
of the law; he accepts the opportunity as an inestimable privilege. Like-wise,
this building program has had a most wholesome effect upon the white
people of the State. It has helped to liberalize their thinking and to
stimulate their interest in providing schools for the Negro children.
Jeanes Fund. During the school year 1929-1930 forty-three Jeanes super-visors
were employed to do work in forty-one counties. These workers by
making 6,887 visits supervised 1,401 schools with 2,627 teachers. These
teachers have aided in installing 262 libraries, and in organizing many
Parent-Teacher Associations; in building 31 new school buildings and one
shop; in increasing the school term in 84 schools, and in raising $33,488.99.
Note—Above figures include only 39 counties, two failing to report.
North Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers. The number
of associations reported by delegates and supervisors in 1927 was 770 with
a total membership of 10,770, and money raised, $65,513.97. At the annual
meeting in 1929 reports showed 953 associations with a total membership
of 17,597. The accomplishments of these associations cover a wide range of
activities as shown by the recapitulation of reports, some of which are as
follows: Pianos, sewing machines, moving picture machines, stoves, tables,
chairs, desks, clocks, kitchen cabinets, scales, maps, new buildings, nurses
providing, land purchased for Rosenwald schools, playground equipment,
offices and auditoriums equipped, lunch rooms equipped and operated, Rosen-wald
schools. To provide these items a total amount of $116,115.51 was
raised in two years.
Slater Fund Aid. For more than ten years the Slater Fund has aided
in developing Negro high schools. This aid is given both on the payment
of teachers' salaries and for the purchase of needed teaching equipment in
the high schools—called in many sections County Training Schools. During
the past five years this Fund has contributed to the payment of salaries,
$55,785.00 in 44 schools; and for equipment, $19,075.00. Without this aid
many of these schools which are now accredited high schools could not pos-sibly
have achieved that goal.
General Education Board. Throughout the period of the existance of the
Division of Negro Education in the Department of Public Instruction, the
General Education Board has contributed the entire salary and expenses
of one member, and part salary of other members of the Division at differ-ent
times. In this way the Board has contributed to the organization and
direction of the various enterprises in Negro education supported by the
State, and other Foundations,—the Rosenwald, Jeanes and Slater Funds.
Formerly the Board made liberal appropriations for salaries and equip-ment
in county training (high) schools, summer schools and home making
clubs. It has also contributed large sums for permanent improvements,
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 51
buildings and equipment, for state and private normal schools and colleges.
A summary of these and other contributions from Foundations for Negro
education in North Carolina for a single year, 1929, is given below:
Table XLIV. Contributions By Philanthropic Agencies, 1929
a. Rosenwald Fund:
School buildings $61,650.00
Transportation of pupils 17 , 852 . 50
Extension of school terms 9,513.36
School libraries 2,876.00
School radios 270 . 00
Traveling expense of librarian 350 . 00
Building supervisor 1 , 500 . 00
Rosenwald Day Program 100 . 00
Winston-Salem Industrial High School 50,000.00
Librarians training course 2 , 000 . 00
Bennett College (current expense) 15,000.00
St. Augustine's College (library building and equipment) 7,500.00
Winston-Salem Health Unit 2 ,000 .00
N. C. College at Durham (library) 1,750.00
A. & T. College at Greensboro (library) 1 , 250 . 00
Livingstone College at Salisbury (library) 500 . 00
Kittrell College (library) 500 .00
Livingstone College (building fund) 30,000.00
Fayetteville State Normal (building fund) 30,000.00
St. Augustine's College (dormitory and dining hall) 10,000.00
Scholarships (10 persons) 10 , 100 . 00
Total $254,441.86
b. General Education Board:
N. C. College, Durham (equipment and dining hall) $45,000.00
Fayetteville State Normal School (practice school) 35 , 000 . 00
St. Augustine's College (building program) 40,000.00
State Department Education (Division Negro Education) 10 , 500 . 00
Scholarships (5 persons) 5 , 500 . 00
Winston-Salem Teachers College (equipment) 2 , 500 . 00
Total $138,500.00
0. Slater Fund:
Salaries in county training schools $ 5 , 300 . 00
Equipment in county training schools 7 , 750 . 00
Salaries in colleges 6 , 525 . 00
Total $ 19,575.00
d. Jeanes Fund:
Salaries and expenses of school supervisors $11,709.00
Total $ 11 , 709 . 00
Grand Total $424,225.86
CHAPTER III
REPORT ON VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Under the provisions of Section 292, Public School Laws, Consolidated
Statutes 5702 (Vol. III.) the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, as
ex-officio chairman of the State Board of Vocational Education, makes a re-port
to the Governor, setting forth the development of the program for
Vocational Education in the State. This report is intended to cover the
high spots in the progress of the four separate departments administered
by the State Board of Vocational Education through the Division of Vo-cational
Education. The information concerning this program is found in
the following specific sections of this chapter.
With the increasing pressure of the financial burden in the promotion
of public enterprises the attention of the people is more positively called
to the importance of those subjects in the curriculum that tend to increase
the power of people to pay taxes. This particular phase of public educa-tion
has for its chief function the increasing of the earning power of the
citizens in order that they may be able to get full enjoyment out of their
occupations and be more worth while as members of their social group.
In North Carolina we have been fortunate in being able to keep the program
in vocational education closely affiliated with general education, and in no
way have allowed it to supplant the subjects needed by every person to be-come
a satisfied and worth while citizen of the State.
The annual appropriation from the Federal Government under the Smith-
Hughes Act, 1917, for the support of this division is as follows: $172,354.27,
and under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 1920, $24,308.00. In addition to
these appropriations, the allotment to North Carolina under the George-
Reed Act, which passed Congress in 1928, is for the year 1929-1930, $22,-
430.50 for agriculture and home economics. This annual appropriation
under the George-Reed Act increases by this amount annually for four
years until it reaches $112,152.50. The total amount available from Federal
funds for the promotion of vocational education in North Carolina during
the year ending June 30th, 1931, is $241,543.31. These funds are appro-priated
to the State on condition that for each dollar of Federal money spent
there shall be spent a dollar of State or local money.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
It is the function of this Department to promote the teaching of agricul-ture
of less than college grade to the boys and men in North Carolina who
are interested in learning better methods of farming and of improving the
conditions of rural life. This function is performed in connection with the
public rural high schools and through organized classes serving the follow-ing
groups: All-day students in high schools electing agriculture as a part
of their course, the adult farmers who come back to the school and take
evening courses related to their current problems, part-time classes for
mature boys who have left school and come back during the leisure months
for special instruction, and short unit courses for mature boys in outlying
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 53
schools who are not prepared for high school. In addition to these duties,
the teacher of agriculture gives courses in farm shop work for all students
in the day schools and assists with the organization of the local chapters
of the Future Farmers of America. Each student in vocational agriculture
is required to carry on, either at home or on land provided by the school,
supervised farm practice, which is the laboratory of the course, and to which
he applies the instruction received from the teacher. The teachers of agri-culture
are employed on a twelve months basis, because the supervision of
the practical work during the summer is of equal importance with class
work, and the supervisors give close supervision to this practical work.
The Federal funds for the teaching of agricultural subjects are ap-propriated
to the states in the ratio which their rural population bears to
the total rural population of the United States. This ratio has given to
North Carolina a larger share of these funds for the promotion of this
phase of the program than for any other. This has resulted in the State's
enrolling in definitely organized classes in vocational agriculture in connec-tion
with the public schools 62,240 farmers and farm boys. The results
of this instruction have been reflected in a very decided improvement in
the farm practices and home conditions in the environment of these schools.
The rapid development of the consolidation program in North Carolina
has lent itself admirably to the extending of vocational agricultural educa-tion
because of the fact that it is only in the larger type schools that this
trained teacher of agriculture can be employed on an economic basis.
This program is primarly a public school program and can accomplish
its purpose more effectively through group instruction followed up by super-vised
practice work upon the farmers, thus enabling a student to try out the
lessons taught in the class. The supervised practice work has proven one
of the most effective means of popularizing the program, because after all
vocational education must prove itself by showing that training in a voca-tion
enables the person trained to get greater returns on his labor. The
practical results obtained from the supervised practice work in North Car-olina
have more than justified the investment.
A part of the program of each department of vocational agriculture is
farm shop work, by means of which each boy is taught the use of ordinary
carpenter's tools in the construction and repair of farm conveniences.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1918-1919:
54 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION
In the past the Federal appropriation for home economics has been very
small, and consequently it was only used in evening and part-time classes
for the purpose of teaching the fundamentals of home-making to mature
girls and women who are not in the regular high school. The Smith-
Hughes law only permits the use of twenty per cent of the Trade and In-dustrial
funds for home economics education. The day school program of
home economics education conducted as a part of the high school program
has been supported from state and local funds.
In 1928 Congress passed the George-Reed Act providing additional funds
for the teaching of agriculture and home economics. The funds available
under this law have enabled North Carolina to greatly enlarge and improve
its program of home economics education.
The teachers in the George-Reed day schools are engaged for a term of
ten months, half of their salary being paid from Federal funds, the other
half being paid from local and State funds equally. The outstanding ac-complishment
of this program is the result obtained through the supervised
home project, which is a requirement for this type of school. These teach-ers
help the girls with their home practices just as the teachers of agricul-ture
help the boys and men.
The purpose of the program in home economics education is to give to the
girls and women of the State, through organized instruction, fundamental
training in homemaking, involving the selection and preparation of foods,
the selection, construction and care of clothing, interior and exterior decora-tion,
budget making, child care, etc.
The evening home economics classes conducted in cooperation with the
industrial plants and city school systems have proven an exceedingly popu-lar
and worth while feature. It is the desire of the State Board to extend
this type of training to just as many prospective and actual housekeepers
as possible. The results of this work are already quite evident in the im-proved
home and better living conditions of people in the centers where the
courses have been conducted for a sufficiently long period.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1918-1919:
Table II. Growth in Home Economics Education
Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction 55
TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION
The Department of Trade and Industrial Education is shouldered with the
responsibility of surveying the industrial situation with reference to educa-tional
opportunities for employees and persons preparing to enter employ-ment
in the industries of the State, of organizing trade and industrial classes
to meet the needs of such persons, selecting and training teachers for the
classes, and by supervising the instruction in these classes. An effort has
been made to provide educational opportunities for persons in every in-dustrial
activity in North Carolina. This opportunity is provided through
evening classes for employed persons and people preparing for employment,
and all day trade classes for young people concerned with preparation for
entering industrial and trade work.
It is a challenge to the public school authorities of the State and local
districts to provide vocational training for this tremendous army of work-ers
so that they may enter employment with some preparation for the job,
and more important to provide opportunity for those employed persons who
are ambitious for advancement to continue their training while on the job,
because we know such training does function in their daily activities.
Up to the present time this department has found that it can use the
small allotment of funds more advantageously by confining its activities
largely to evening class work, and the interest of both employees and em-ployers
in the vocation classes conducted for employed workers during hours
outside of the time of employment has been very gratifying. Employers
have shown a fine spirit of cooperation by helping to supply funds and by
promoting the students who have shown good records in the evening classes.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1918-1919:
Table III. Growth in Trade and Industrial Education
56 Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The work consists of finding cripples of employable age, disabled through
public or industrial accidents and by disease or congenital causes, securing
physical restoration, giving vocational advice, providing necessary vocational
training and other aids, supervising the training, and securing suitable
employment.
After the cripple has been physically restored to the best of the ability of
modern surgery, he is directed into the vocation for which his various
abilities best fit him and in which his disability will not prove a handicap.
He is trained in a shop, office, factory, vocational school, business college or
university, wherever the needed training can best be secured, and he is then
placed in suitable employment. Not until he has secured employment at
which he can support himself and dependents are the services considered
complete.
Much valued service is obtained through the close cooperation with the
Industrial Commission, the State Board of Health and many local agencies,
including civic clubs, orthopaedic surgeons, hospitals and county and city
educational and social workers.
The following table indicates the progress of the work since it was begun
in 1921-1922:
Table IV. Growth in Civilian Rehabilitation
Year